


Keeper of the High School Pranks

by AKBruce



Category: Keeper of the Lost Cities Series - Shannon Messenger
Genre: Cheerleader!Biana, F/M, Gen, M/M, Nerd!Dex, Shy!Sophie, Sophie is new, Sophitz endgame, badboy!Keefe, punk!Fitz
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-11-18
Updated: 2018-03-18
Packaged: 2019-02-03 21:14:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 19
Words: 21,316
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12756330
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AKBruce/pseuds/AKBruce
Summary: A reality where elven worlds are a fantasy idea and the squad are just regular high schoolers. Keefe and Fitz are punks and are competing with an opposing gang and end up roping Biana, Dex and Sophie into their competitions, but will  the gang be able to pull through as the competition gets crazy? High School AU.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hey so this is my first fic ever so please go easy and I honestly really like how this is going-although it isn't finished-so I really hope there are people who like. Also- let me know, if you'd like, how the length is because I really don't know if it should be longer or not. Enjoy!

**1**

_**Sophie** _

As Sophie Foster pushed open the big metal doors to her new high school, she actually felt as if she was descending into a different realm. School in Seattle, Washington’s huge public school was completely foreign compared to the tiny little town of Larkhall, Scotland, her family had moved from just a month ago.

Inhaling deeply, Sophie yanked down the top of her plaid sweater-vest, pulled her tall socks back up over her knees, adjusted the braid holding her bright-blonde hair away from her face, and started hiking down the steps leading to the East section of this giant school where her locker Was said to be supposedly located. She devoured her surroundings, almost in shock of how huge and full of different types of students just this one section of the school was. As she looked to her right, her eyes skimmed two boys who looked as if they had a giant sign constantly floating over both their heads screaming, “TROUBLE!” The brown-haired boy out of the two of them turned his head right as her eyes landed on his and she was taken aback by how turquoise and bright his eyes were.

Feeling uneasy, Sophie pushed herself faster, eventually reaching the East Section and claiming her locker, which was conveniently at the end of the row, so she would only have to deal with one person, and that would be on her left side. Already feeling queasy, Sophie shakily raised her hands to her locker, opened it, and started to put all of her books in, knowing it would be unorganized in a week.

As she was finishing up putting all her books away, she heard a perky voice open the locker next to hers and couldn’t help but hear the conversation.

“No, Dex, for the love of all the gods out there, I am not going to your geek nerd-fest back to school party,” Sophie heard the locker door slam shut and righted one of her books it knocked over. “Besides, whenever I attempt to talk to any of those AV nerd friends of yours they always freak out and get all weird. Nothing against you, of course!” The perky voice added at the end. Sophie knit her brows and looked down, but was shook out of her eavesdropping when the warning bell went off. Reluctantly, still feeling very queasy, Sophie slowly shut the door to her locker and found herself face-to-face with a brunette whose dark brown hair was loose down in bouncy ringlets to her collarbone and face was stunning.

“Hey, aren’t you that new international student?” The guy who the brunette had been speaking to early asked, his cheeks reddening just a tad as Sophie tilted her head and nodded. “Cool. I’m Dex, and this here is Biana,” he continued, motioning to the brunette, “we’re sophomores here.” He smiles and held out his hand. Sophie looked down cautiously before shaking the boy – Dex’s – hand.

“Sophie,” she started, “Sophie Foster. And yeah, I just moved in from Scotland around a month ago. I guess I’m a sophomore too? Still don’t really get the American school system.” She added, tilting her head in confusion at both of their smiling faces and Dex and Biana shared a look. “Sorry, did I offend you?” She questioned, and they both smiled wider.

“No, not at all,” Biana, as Dex had introduced her, said, her smile genuine. “We just aren’t used to accents like yours around here. It’s very nice.” She finished, patting Sophie on the shoulder. Sophie glanced at the clock and then looked back down at her schedule, sighing.

“Come on,” Dex said, pushing both Sophie and Biana ahead into a walk. “Looks like you’ve got English first, just like me. I’ll lead you there.” He then pushed Biana in the other direction. “You’ve got gym first, B. I’ll see you at break!” He said, and they gave each other secret wave that just confused Sophie even more.  
“Do all American teenagers say goodbye like that?” Sophie asked, unable to help herself.

“No,” Dex laughed, as he led Sophie down the dense hallway full of different students rushing to get to different classes, Sophie assumed. “B and I have been best friends since first grade, so we’ve got a bunch of different inside things between us. Did you have a lot of friends where you were from?” He asked, seeming genuinely curious.

“A few,” Sophie states, trying to ignore letting out the history of how a few was the only amount of people in the school. “I do feel that this environment will take a while to get used to.” She added, looking down at her books.

“Oh don’t worry, you’ll fit right in. Besides, I’ll stick with you!” Dex said enthusiastically, stopping so abruptly Sophie almost tripped as he turned towards a door. “Here we are, 10th grade English. After you.” Dex said, gesturing her into the classroom.

Sophie breathed in deeply and smiled the best she could. How hard could this be, anyways?


	2. Chapter 2

**2**

**_Fitz_ **

Fitz could say he was not excited for another crap year of high school. Not like what happened in high school really mattered, but Fitz really didn’t feel like having to deal with another year of teachers telling him he shouldn’t waste his brains away by making poor life choices and that he could be great if he just dropped his “bad influences”. Plus, if he got suspended again, his parents and sister would probably disown him, just like they did with Alvar.

Fitz sighed, leaning back in his chair and glancing at Keefe. Keefe was obviously plotting something, because when was he not, but this time looked like something that might actually work. For almost the whole summer, the gang had been bled dry of all their members, one by one, exploited by their enemy gang, the Neverseen. Practically the only ones left in the gang was Fitz himself, Keefe and maybe Tam, but who the hell knew what was going on with his life.

Keefe glanced back at Fitz and raised his eyebrows before pulling out a pen and writing some idiotic idea down on his palm, causing Fitz to smile. He glanced back at the board, but since it was the first day, none of the information shared was important. Plus, it was senior year, so really, all Fitz had to do was pass these next two semesters and then he would be done with school.

Finally, after lots of tossing random paper balls around the room and Keefe making lame remarks at every questionable statement the teacher said, the bell went off and Fitz stood, picking his book up and grabbing Keefe’s as well.

“Got some genius plan to crush the Neverseen?” Fitz asked as Keefe and him slowly strolled out of the now cleared out classroom and down the hall towards the lunch commons.

“I wish. I was sure I had something but then I realized that Fintan could easily counter that with…” Keefe drifted off as Biana sauntered down the hall with Dex in toe.

It was not Fitz’s little sister that caught him off-guard though. Walking next to Biana, looking overwhelmed and very flushed was the mysterious blonde girl that Fitz had briefly made eye contact with in the hall earlier. Her hair fell down the back of her head in an odd braid, and she was wearing a sweater vest, plaid skirt and high socks that reached her knees. Fitz was struck by how she just naturally stood out from the crowd.

“Who the hell is that with Biana?” Keefe asked, just as Biana spotted Fitz and started to saunter towards them with the blonde girl and Dex right behind.

“Hey Fitzy!” Biana said bubbly and gave him a “mwah, mwah” on both cheeks. “This here,” she said, yanking the girl out from behind her, “Is Sophie Foster. She transferred all the way from Scotland! I was wondering if after lunch you could show her to the art room, since I know you’re taking it as well.” Biana stated. Fitz knew how this went. The look in Biana’s eyes and the way she said it made it obvious that she was not requesting.

“Yeah sure, sounds good.” Fitz replied, flashing his smile he always used to charm adults and other students into believing he had a good side. “You can come find me after lunch. You know where we’ll be, B.” Fitz then nodded and continued down the hall, pulling Keefe along next to him.

“Dudeeeee.” Keefe started, the excited spark lighting up his face.

“Keefe. Not happening. Sophomore. Plus, did you see her? She does not strike as the type who would be into guys like us.” Fitz couldn’t tell if it was Keefe or himself he was trying to convince as they reached the lunchroom and pushed the doors going to the outside of the school, heading towards their usual spot with the image of one blonde beauty in the back of his mind.

 

**_Biana_ **

Biana was beyond ecstatic about this new girl. Now of course, Biana didn’t actually know how long this relationship would last considering how so very busy she was with cheer, school, her friends and keeping her brother in check, but she was determined to add this new girl to her schedule.

Now, sitting across from this odd Sophie Foster in the lunch cafeteria and watching her eat some giant long piece of something that looked nothing like what anyone else was eating was one of the best parts of Biana’s day so far. Dex nudged Biana underneath the table and Biana shook her head, realizing she had been staring at Sophie.

“So, Sophie,” Dex said nonchalantly, “what is that?” He asked, gesturing towards the fish.

“Well, its fried fish of course.” Sophie said, and Biana raised a single eyebrow. “Well, we just fry it whole and add a light breading and I mean there’s really no point to take the eye out right?” Dex gagged slightly and then it was Biana’s turn to nudge him. Sophie smiled and took another bite.

“Cool! Well, maybe you can help me fry some fish. Since we’re right next to the Puget Sound, we have LOADS of salmon, so that might spice the way we eat it up a bit!” Biana said enthusiastically, trying to sound as welcoming as possible. Sophie’s face lit up and she nodded, a slight smile spreading on her face.

“Can I ask yers a question?” Sophie blurted a minute or so later. Biana was still in awe of every time Sophie spoke, considering how odd her accent was. Biana nodded. “Does everyone always have to wear that outfit? I’ve seen many girls wearin’ it.” Biana knitted her eyebrows and then looked down, realizing Sophie was referring to her cheer uniform.

“Oh,” Biana laughed, “No of course not. This is the cheer uniform. We just have to wear it on the first day of school and any other day we have a competition or a game to cheer for.” Sophie nodded, and it looked like she understood. Biana mentally patted herself on the back and was just going to ask Sophie another question when the bell rang.

Dex put shut his computer from whatever game he had been playing and stuffed it in his backpack, bidding them all farewell as he headed towards his computer programming class. Biana stood up, putting her lunch back in her purse and ushering Sophie towards the outside doors where Fitz and Keefe always sit.

Yes, Biana could feel how wonderful this year was going to be.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> whoop, two chapters out, and we're getting some other characters perspectives as well! Hope everyone is enjoying. Next chapter should be up relatively quickly.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I added more to Sophie's accent and slang for character. If a glossary of what some things mean ends up being needed, let me know. Enjoy!

**3**

**_Sophie_ **

“So, how long you been in Seattle?” Fitz asked as he grabbed what appeared to be a sketchbook out of his locker and then turned towards her and gestured for them to walk in a certain direction. The bell had rung 3 minutes prior, and Sophie was a tad worried about being late on her first day but she didn’t have any clue what direction she needed to go and Fitz knew where the art room was.

“We arrived here aboot a month ago, and we were all moved in to our new flat aboot two weeks ago.” Sophie informed Fitz, trying to speed up their pace. “It is quite different in Seattle then home, though.” She added, and he smiled at that.

“Yeah, it kind of sucks around here but it has its perks.” He said, taking a quick turn down a right corridor that had Sophie almost running into a locker. “Hey, careful there!” He laughed, grabbing her elbow and steadying her. She looked up at him and laughed breathily, tugging an eyelash out, as she always did when she was extremely nervous.

“To be honest,” She said, “Ah am extremely nervous of being labeled a misfit here and A’m terribly homesick.” She confessed, unsure of why she was pouring her heart out to a two-year older boy who looked like he could win a knife-fight in a second. For some reason he just felt…comfortable.

“I get that,” He said, letting go of her elbow and continuing down the hall. “I don’t reach the standards of my parents at all and everyone here thinks I’m a punk who is constantly on crack.” He laughed to himself and looked towards her, nodding. “But you seem very nice Sophie. Sure, you’ve got an accent and don’t look like the average Seattle or American teenager, but that’s something to be proud of.” He finished. Sophie nodded, surprised by how opposite Fitz’s personality was from the way she had judged him.

“Well, here we are.” Fitz said as they approached a huge garage-style door that was halfway open. Sophie glanced up at the clock and shook her head slightly, irritated that she was 8 minutes late to art class on her first day as Fitz ducked in. She followed after him and was greeted by a high ceiling room with desks in a circular formation, all facing a plaster bust of some old historical dude. A man who looked to be in around his fifties looked up from the giant board he was splattering paint on and smiled.

“Aw, Fitz, you’re three minutes early!” He said jokingly, and Fitz smiled at the man.

“You can blame that on this crazy right here.” Fitz grinned, pointing his thumb over his shoulder at a cowering Sophie.

“Why hello there!” The man said, his eyes gleaming with excitement. “I’m Mr. Waker! I’ll be your art teacher for the rest of the year! What is your name dear?” Mr. Waker asked, smiling brightly.

“Ah am Sophie Foster, Sir.” Sophie said timidly, and gave a little humph as Fitz gently shoved her towards Mr. Waker. Mr. Waker stuck out his hand and Sophie looked down, realized the intent, and shakily shook it. “Good to meet ye, Sir.” She said smiling faintly.  

“Alright, well, thank you for choosing my class, Sophie.” Mr. Waker said, and Sophie nodded in response. “You two troublemakers can take a seat over there, next to Mrs. Song.” He completed, jerking his chin towards a girl with brown and silver hair in the corner of the circle. Sophie followed Fitz and sat down in the seat next to the one he took.

“Now, I want all of you to open your sketchbooks. Today is idea day. Let your creativity squirt out of you like a flowing fountain of beautiful sparkly water. I want to see that page full of crap by the end of class.” With that, he slammed his fist down on the table as if it was gavel, picked up his paintbrush, and continued to do gosh knows what to his canvas board.

Sophie opened her sketchbook and glared down at it for a minute or so before peaking her head towards Fitz’s page. It was full of sketches that looked as if they were a bird of some sort, maybe a goose, a few weapons, some V’s, and a lot of logos that Sophie didn’t recognize. She darted her eyes back to her paper.

Lifting her pencil, Sophie started a small sketch of her favorite place back home. A few blocks away from her flat there was a little park that contained a play structure, a red and blue gazebo with the founding family’s names, and the train station going through the town in the back. But, when looking at it from the bench right at the entrance, you could see the gazebo, the trains, and the mountains, leading off to nowhere, behind it. It had always and still was her favorite place to clear her fuzzy, crazy mind.

Sophie had gotten so into her work that when the bell rang she jumped, looking around the classroom and rapidly pulling at her schedule to see where she’d have to haul herself to next. She turned towards Fitz with a questioning look on her face.

“Do ye know what and where the P of the E is?” She asked, furrowing her brows at the ‘P.E.’ Dex had written for her. Fitz laughed abruptly, lightly slapping Sophie’s shoulder.

“That’s Physical Education, like gym or sports.” He explained, and Sophie nodded, blushing at herself for not figuring that out.

“Is there any way I could convince ye to show me how to get there?” She asked, cringing at how clingy she must sound.

“No, not at all. My next class is AP Calc and I have no problem being late for that crap.” He said, nudging her out the door and down the hall. Sophie glanced back at the art room for a quick second before smiling to herself and following Fitz down the hall.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another Chapter, whew, I am on a roll! Also, I intensified Sophie's accent in this chapter because I felt it really helped with the characterization (and I know how the accent sounds, since I have one lol) so if it looked like anything was spelled wrong, it was just written the way it sounds. Hope you enjoyed!


	4. Chapter 4

**4**

**_Keefe_ **

Something was off with Fitz. Keefe really couldn’t place it considering how there always seemed to be something off with his best friend, but it was even weirder this time. Normally, Fitz was just naturally chill, but at this moment, driving over to meet up with Tam and discuss gang crap, Fitz almost seemed successful. Fitz never showed off when he was successful.

“Dude, please just spit it out or I will literally force you.” Keefe finally said, and Fitz turned from the road to look at him, raising one brow.

“Spit what out?” Fitz asked casually. Keefe sighed dramatically and punched Fitz lightly in the knee. “Alright, alright. I’ve just been thinking about inviting Sophie to join the gang.” Fitz said nonchalantly, and Keefe scoffed, looking at Fitz.

“Just earlier you told me there was no way she would go for guys like us, and now you want to invite her to join Black Swan?” Keefe questioned, taken aback by Fitz even considering asking some random girl he’d known for six hours to join their basically blood-pact. “Plus, Biana hates it when you rope her friends into our crap. What makes you think this’ll be any different?” Keefe continued, knowing he was gnawing at all the worries Fitz was considering as well.

“But, look at it this way,” Fitz started, putting more attention towards Keefe, “Biana hasn’t claimed her yet. And, she’s different. She doesn’t even have to partake in any of the meetings, she could do other things. She seemed crazy resourceful!” Fitz exclaimed.

“Alright, well, we’ll talk to Tam and then maybe, just maybe, we’ll ask her. But we tell her _everything_ that comes with Black Swan, agreed?” Fitz nodded, and Keefe rolled his eyes. Who knew, maybe this girl would live up to Fitz’s boasts.

**_Fitz_ **

Today had not been total crap, was what Fitz decided when he pulled his piece of crap 20-year-old Chevrolet convertible into his family’s three-car garage that was attached to their massive house. Of course, Senior year was guaranteed to be a total pain in the ass with every person in his life breathing down the back of his neck chanting college, but he could deal with that as he always dealt with pressure.

He shut his car off, getting out, letting his mind drift back to the meeting he had just finished. Of course, Tam had been as friendly as ever, bothering both Fitz and Keefe about how they both should just drop out and help him since there was no way they’d win anything against Neverseen in high school and blah blah. Obviously, Fitz had almost enough credits that he really didn’t need to go, but, if he just stopped going, he would find himself living on the streets, no question.

He stepped inside the house, bag hanging off one shoulder, and walk pretty quickly up the stairs to his room before closing the door to his room and putting his earphones in his ears. Pulling out the sheet of ideas Black Swan had created during their meeting, Fitz sighed, knowing that none of these would work.

Neverseen had at least three extremely clever members and would most likely gain a few at the start of the considering how some newbies thought the idea of being in a ‘gang’ with a title made them on a different level than normal. But, nonetheless, Neverseen would be stronger and would rip Fitz, Keefe and Tam apart, inevitably.

Tam had been assigned supplies, Keefe ideas and Fitz recruits. Fitz yanked out his school catalog before taking out the one he had stolen from Biana’s room the other day with her whole grade on it as well, and got to work, writing any candidates.

After about thirty minutes, Fitz was yawning and looking over his list. There were a few people who could be promising, but, overall, they may not have what Black Swan needed: A Black Swan 2.0.

Just as Fitz heard his mom give a shout that he needed to come down for dinner or he wouldn’t get any, Fitz remembered frantically one name he needed to add. Smiling to himself, Fitz wrote another point and scratched down ‘Sophie Foster’ before capping his pen and heading downstairs.

 


	5. Chapter 5

**5**

**_Biana_ **

The whole entire dinner, Fitz looked down, not saying a word, some sort of excitement or smugness masked across his face. Since Biana was his sister, she could practically feel what Fitz’s different smugness levels meant, and this one was almost creepy to observe.

After dinner was finished and Fitz had stormed upstairs without saying a word to Biana or their parents, Biana thanked her parents for dinner and followed him upstairs, shoving open the door to her room.

“Spill.” Biana said, and shoved past the desk chair he was lounging in, crashing on his bed.

“Spill what?” Fitz said, not looking up from the page he was doodling on and shoving the door closed with his foot. “What the hell are you doing in here anyways?” He questioned. “We only talk like, once a week.”

“Did you already find a girl to chase after? Did something spectacular happen? Did you finally stop hating your life or stop talking to Keefe? Why are you so dang smug?” Biana growled, feeling like a criminal interrogator. Fitz finally looked up from his drawing and swiveled in his chair to face her.

“None of that, I promise. I don’t know… I guess I’m just glad I’m a senior.” He shrugged, not meeting her eyes. Biana internally sighed, realizing she was gonna have to swerve down the harder road.

“Sophie is mine.” She said. And, there it was. The half-a second shock on Fitz’s face that was quickly schooled into smoothness. It was there and gone in the blink of an eye, but Biana caught it.

“Umm… cool? Why do I care?” Fitz asked, and Biana giggled, pointing at the paper that was sitting next to Fitz’s doodle on his desk that had ‘Sophie Foster’ written under ‘New Members’. Fitz made an angry huff and met Biana’s eyes. “The gang could use her, badly.” He tried.

“Ugh, I told you, you can’t pull my friends into your stupid so-called gang.” Biana argued, tapping her finger against the paper again. “She isn’t even like that. I’ll totally get her to become a cheerleader or Dex will pull her into his nerd gang. Plus, you’re a senior, Fitz.” By Fitz’s defeated look, Biana knew she had made enough sound points. She nodded and got up, opened the door, and stepped out into the doorway, about to close the door, when Fitz coughed.

“Let’s leave that up to her to decide, how ‘bout that?” Fitz smirked, getting up and closing the door in her face, leaving her growling at his closed door, his soft chuckle ringing from the other side.

**_Dex_ **

“She chose to sit with us at lunch, though. Plus, we’re in her grade!” Biana added for what Dex felt was the millionth time and he shifted his phone off of his ear, putting it on speaker so he could readjust his arm, making it much easier to jam the numb keys for his game. Dex sighed inside his head.

“Bia, calm down. I’m sure she loves you, like everyone does. You’re probably just overreacting.” Dex said, putting one earbud in his other ear to hear the comms from his group members, hearing what they needed in the game. “It’s only the first day anyways, she has plenty of time to get used and fall in love with you like everyone does.”

“Yeah, you’re probably right.” The resolve in Biana’s voice is obvious and Dex pumps his fist at winning the ‘make Biana feel better about herself’ argument that occurs at least once every week. Crappy girl emotions: 0, Awesome best friend: 1. Although, it’s a pretty even split between the two of them, seeing how often Dex considers himself the looser of that argument.

“Yeah, I am right, and you know it. You’re awesome, Bia.” Dex shifts his fingers, not even really sure what he said as he attempts a struggling part of his game and ends up dying, throwing his hands up in frustration.

“Ugh, what would I do without you Dex Diznee?” Biana asked, and Dex smiled to himself.

“Die of crappy Biana Overload Emotions, probably.” Dex heard Biana laugh, and the sound made his stomach do that excited flutter. “Oh, by the way,” He added quickly, “How did the first cheer practice of the year go today?” Dex asked, feeling like a poor friend for completely forgetting as he started another try of his game.

“So many new girls, actually! Even though I still won’t be captain this year, I am still the best flier on the team. Our first meet is in two weeks. You’ll be there, right?” Biana’s excitement was so obvious Dex let out a relieved breath that something was going good for her.

“When have I not been there?” Dex countered, and he heard Biana laugh on the other line. Chanting a quiet, ‘ _yes!’,_ Dex completed the section of his game he had just died in a bunch of times and lost a little bit of focus in his conversation with his best friend.

“Well, I require at least 10 hours of sleep, unlike you crazy kid. See you tomorrow, bye Dex!” Biana said, before Dex heard the click of her hanging up. Quickly, Dex shoved both earbuds in his ears and smiled to himself.

“Luckily, finishing this game will help me get over not getting 10 hours of sleep.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Feeling pretty on a roll with this fic, I have no clue how I'll wrap this up. Hope everyone is enjoying.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sophie's Accent/slang glossary at the end of the chapter from now on. Enjoy!

**6**

**_Sophie_ **

The weird thing really wasn’t that Sophie was headed to her second day of school in Seattle, the weird thing was in fact that she was looking forward to it.

As she headed to her locker, only getting lost once, Sophie looked around, every hall, hoping she would run into Fitz. Of course, to her luck, she never did, but it was made up for when it was almost as if Biana and Dex were _waiting_ for her when she finally made it to her locker.

“Hey Sophie! Ready for your second day of school in seattle?!” Biana said energetically, and Dex rolled his eyes.

“Erm… yeh, I guess.” Sophie said, confused on what made Biana so interested in the odd new kid who she’d only known for a day. Sophie shrugged, turning, and unlocked her locker, feeling targeted by Biana.

“Well… good!” Biana said, smiling at Sophie. “So, Sophie, I was thinking maybe you wanted to come and tryout for cheer today?” She asked tentatively, and Sophie looked to Dex for a second, wh0 just shook his head and smiled. Sophie closed her locker and turned fully towards the both of them.

“Aye,” Sophie started, bobbing her head slightly. “But Ah have to warn ye, Ah have absolutely no coordination.” She supplemented, laughing at how true her comment was. Sophie was a mediocre highland dancer only because she was terrible at keeping her balance during the hard combos. Biana was grinning though, and she was squeezing Dex’s shoulder in excitement, so Sophie decided she’d give it her best shot.

“This is gonna be such a blast!” Biana said, practically jumping, and waved bye to both Sophie and Dex before skipping down the hall. Dex watched her, an unreadable look on his face, before turning to Sophie.

“May Ah ask a question?” Sophie asked as her and Dex turned to walk towards their first class, and Dex nodded, prompting Sophie to continue. “Is she yer burd?” Sophie asked, fully curious, and Dex cocked his head, clearly not understanding. Realizing, Sophie mentally kicked herself. “Erm… I think yers call it ‘girlfriend’.” Sophie added, and Dex laughed abruptly, patting Sophie on the shoulder.

“Burd. I like it.” Dex laughed again, and then looked to Sophie more seriously. “I don’t think so. But, then again, I have no clue. Bia and I have been best friends for an extremely long time and she acts as if we’re dating but she’ll probably end up stepping up to someone more popular than me.” Dex said, the look on his face almost solemn, and Sophie felt sorry for him.

“From now on,” Sophie said, taking Dex’s hand and squeezing, “Ah’ll be yer best friend as well. That way, ye have twa.” She said, squeezing his hand again and then releasing it, just as they turned into their first class.

“Sounds awesome.” Dex said, laughing and looking at Sophie with wonder in his eyes. “You really are something, Sophie Foster.” Sophie smiled, strutting her way over to her desk and feeling confident in the idea of already having two close friends.

**_Keefe_ **

Keefe was about ready to keen over and vomit by the time his math class was halfway through, and the teacher could tell and had probably been warned about Keefe’s ‘improper impulses’, so when Keefe got up and left the classroom, there was no argument against him.

He wandered the halls for a bit until he settled near a set of lockers that were in the Sophomore pod and rested his head on his hands, contemplating all of the crap things he would have to go through this Senior year. He had already decided that he was going to fully devote himself to Black Swan, hoping to find a legacy that could somehow continue it on, even as they were almost gone.

Tam, obviously, wasn’t going anywhere, since he graduated two years ago and was still stuck in the dreary slums of Seattle. Keefe was as sure of Tam staying as he was sure of Fitz leaving. As often as Fitz denied it, Keefe knew that he would get accepted to some Elite college, probably in a different state.

Which always led Keefe back to himself, and where he would end up. He sighed, opening his eyes, just as he heard the undeniable sound of female shoes clinking along the hallway. He looked up and saw, to his delight, the new girl Fitz had been raving about. Never to stray away from a moment, just as she was about to pass him he spoke up.

“Not ditching class on our second day at our new school, I hope.” He said casually, sitting up to drop a slight smirk in her direction. She stopped, turning towards him, looking very taken off guard.

“May Ah be upfront?” New girl said, her definite Scottish accent catching him so off-guard all he could do was muster a head bob. “Ah went to use the toilet, and got a wee bit lost trying to find ma class.”  He chuckled at that, still amazed at how different she was, but she really didn’t seem to notice.

“Well, class is overrated anyways,” Keefe said, and she tight-lipped smiled. “Here, come join me.” He then motioned the empty space next to him on the bench and she contemplated it for a second before sitting down next to him.

“Erm, wit do ye do, just sit here?” She asked, clearly not getting his attempts of flirtation. He chuckled again, and turned towards her, about to charm her straight face to face just as the bell chimed. “Well, Ah ought to get to ma next lesson.” She said, standing up and readying herself to hurry away.

“Wait-” Keefe said, grabbing her hand before she took off, “I didn’t catch your name…”

“Sophie Foster.” She said, before turning away from him and disappearing down the hallway.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sophie's Slang Glossary:  
> -Aye: Yes  
> -Ah: I  
> -Ye: You  
> -Yer: Your  
> -Burd: Girlfriend  
> -Twa: Two  
> -Wee: Small  
> -Wit: What


	7. Chapter 7

**7**

**_Biana_ **

As always, cheer had been the best part of Biana’s day, but with Sophie there it was even better. Sophie was amazing and terrible at the same time. Her balance was bad so there was no way she was a base, but she was small enough to make a potential flyer. So, when practice had ended, Biana had invited Sophie to come home for dinner and Sophie had agreed.

“Honestly, though, you have loads of potential.” Biana said, pushing the locker room doors open and swinging her bag over her shoulder.

“Really? Ah never imagined maself as a cheerleader. It was totally pure bonkers Biana, thanks so much for inviting me.” Biana smiled and wrapped her free arm around Sophie’s shoulder, squeezing lightly.

“What are friends for, anyways?” Biana said, turning the corner and leading to the Senior pod exit of the school. “Alright, so we have to grab Dex from his weird computer-nerd club in the Senior hall, and then we’ll walk back to my house. It’s not to far, trust me.”

“Aye, it’s braw, I had to walk home from classes all the time in Larkhall.” Sophie said, and Biana appreciated how understanding this odd girl was. They reached the club, and Biana peaked her head in, catching the eyes of most of the club and causing Dex to bid everyone goodbye before leaving the room with the girls. The little trio shoved outside and started to cross the football field.

“So, how did the meeting go?” Biana asked Dex, turning her head towards him.

“A few new members. It will definitely be interesting to see how the dynamic changes. How was cheer?” There was the million-dollar question Biana had been waiting for.

She then went on the explain almost to the minute detail of what happened in cheer and Dex just walked and listened like he always did, Sophie even pitching in a thought here or there. They were halfway home and in the more sketchy area of the walk when they were stopped on the sidewalk by a couple of Senior/graduated looking boys. One had a skateboard, another a bike, and another was smoking something.

Not wanting to interrupt, the three of them tried to avoid walking straight through the gang by looping around the sidewalk, but the gang of boys just kept getting in their way.

Eventually, Sophie looking very confused, Biana and Dex came to a complete stop. As the boys got closer, Biana immediately recognized two of the four and almost lost her crap in a panic. She felt Dex tense up beside her and knew he had just realized as well.

“Erm, excuse yers, we were just trying to get home. Could ye all be crabbits and let us by?” Sophie said in a way that was both charming and rude at the same time. Dex’s jaw and at least two of the older boys jaws dropped at her sheer wit, and Biana suppressed a laugh at how baffled her friend made these boys.

“What did you just say, weirdo? Couldn’t make out what you were saying, got a lisp or something?” The tallest and lankiest boy said, stepping closer to Sophie, having at least a head over her. Sophie knit her brows in confusion and looked to her friends. Biana rolled her eyes.

“Step off her Fintan, she’s not from here. Go pick on someone else, we’re just trying to get home.” Biana said, trying to look as confident as she possibly could, grabbing Dex and Sophie’s hands with both of hers and attempting to push through the boys blockade.

“Now, _Bia_ , lets not get too confident, hmm?” The youngest of them said, Ruy, emphasizing _Bia_ as if it was a huge secret on what her nickname was. “We just want to know a bit about Fitzypoo and his gang of misfits. If you talk to us, maybe we’ll let you, your retarded nerd friend and weirdo lisp friend go easy.” Biana bites her lip, irritated at the insults he uses against her friends.

“Honestly, Fitz and I haven’t talked in at least a week. I don’t associate myself with him and his band of misfits either.” Biana said, totally ready to give Fitz a pounding when she gets home for always getting her wrapped up in his crap.

“Alright, we’ll let you out easy this time, but you better warn Fitzy we’ll get you next time if he doen’t give up.” Biana sighed dramatically and nodded, charging on ahead with Dex and Sophie by her side.

“By the way, maybe yers should educate yerselves aboot the globe. Its Scottish, not a lisp, you bunch of roasters!” Sophie threw at them, and Biana quickly ushered the trio away before the boys could understand what Sophie said.

After walking for about five more minutes, Dex finally looked at Sophie.

“Roasters?” He asked, and Biana let out a giggle.

“Aye, ye both need to learn wit Ah mean, I ain’t telling you.” Sophie said, a grin growing on her face. Biana pulled out her phone, pulling up a slang page and typing the word in. After the answer popped up, Biana could’ve sworn she and Dex laughed as hard as ever the whole rest of the walk home with their new, wonderful friend.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, bit of a shorter chapter today, sorry, I've been busy! Next one will be very long!   
> Sophie's Scottish Glossary:  
> -pure bonkers: crazy  
> -braw: good   
> -crabbit: kind person   
> -Roasters: wimps, pussy's, etc.


	8. Chapter 8

**8**

**_Fitz_ **

Fitz really despised school. Not in a oh-I-don’t-want-to-do-this kind of way, in a I-swear-this-will-be-the-death-of-me kind of way.

The fact that Tam wouldn’t come back, he had to deal with Neverseen members there, and that Keefe hit on _any_ living creature there really didn’t help his hatred subdue, either.

After Fitz had been sitting with Keefe and Tam for the past 30 minutes in his room, watching the two flirt but make no moves on each other, Fitz was relieved when he heard the downstairs door open and Biana’s voice ring throughout the house.

Of course, his relief was short-lived considering how his sister stormed upstairs and threw the door open, pointing at him in a way that made it look like he had committed a high level crime against humanity.

“You!” Biana was now saying, approaching the spot where Fitz was lounging on the floor, “This is all your fault. I try so hard to deal, but then my friends get roped into it?! Enough is enough, Fitz. You have to stop.” She had reached him by this point and was staring down at him, murder in her eyes.

“Got to stop what?” Fitz asked casually, looking at his two friends for moral support, receiving half-assed shrugs from both of them. Gosh, he needed to pick better friends.

“On my walk home with Soph and Dex today, we got stopped by the _freaking NEVERSEEN_!” Biana yelled, throwing her arms up in the air.

“Ooo, Sophie’s here?” Keefe said, perking up at the mention of the brown-eyed girl’s name, causing Fitz to roll his eyes.

“Yes, Sophie’s here.” Biana said, turning towards Keefe and Tam. “This is both of your faults too, you know. I’m sick and tired of your stupid after-school club. Get a life!” Biana said, and Keefe stuck his tongue out at her. Tam just shrugged, looking as chill as always.

“I have no life, so…” Tam said, causing both Fitz and Keefe to scoff and Biana’s rage to flicker into something more lighthearted.

“I don’t get the big deal, little sis’, by the sound of it, nothing even happened.” Fitz said, instigating Biana to turn back to him.

“Yeah, but that’s because I stood up for the three of us. With the help of Sophie, of course. But we barely made it through.” Biana said dramatically.

“It’s true.” Came Dex’s voice from the door, and Fitz looked up to see him and Sophie standing there. “You know those guys. They’re fully prepared for any situation. They probably carry pranks around everywhere.” Dex finished, approaching Biana and rubbing her shoulder, producing a calmer Biana within seconds.

“You need to tell them to _leave us alone_.” Biana said, getting ready to make her dramatic exit, when a voice spoke up from the doorway.

“Actually,” Sophie said, and Fitz’s eyes flickered to her, curious at where she was headed with this, “Ah would like to hear more aboot witever ye’lls are doing. It seems quite interesting.” She said, and nodded, as if she was agreeing with herself. Fitz watched her in surprise as she walked right over to him and sat down on the floor next to him, taking the planning that he had been writing out with Keefe and Tam from before the youngers had arrived, and reading over it, not noticing how Biana’s jaw had hit the floor.

“Wait, Soph, you _like_ this kind of stuff?!” Biana said, and Fitz chuckled at Biana’s astonishment. Keefe and Tam had both perked up as well, fully engaged in what would happen next.

“Aye. It’s quite fascinating, and it seems like a lot of fun.” Sophie said, and Biana’s face twisted even more. “Oh, come on Bia, it’ll be fun. Don’t ye wanna put those roasters in their places?” Sophie argued, and Biana actually looked as if she was considering for a second, but she didn’t get a chance to say anything.

“I’m the techiest person on the planet. You guys need all the help you can get. I guess I’m down.” Dex said, taking a spot in front of Sophie, causing Keefe and Tam to look at Fitz in astonishment. Biana looked at Dex, and then at Sophie, and Fitz had to hold back his laughter.

“I won’t be in any confrontations, and it can’t interfere with cheer.” Biana said, and it was Fitz’s turn to be taken aback. “And, you have to give me a full intro on what you guys even do.” She added, and Fitz’s eyes widened.

“Done. You’re in, all three of you.” Tam said, seeming to be the only one of the older boys who could form words at the moment. “Well fellas, looks like we’ve got ourselves a full Black Swan. And, to answer your question, Biana, we pull pranks. Hardcore pranks.”

****

****

**_Dex_ **

Honestly, Dex had no idea what the hell he was doing. When Tam had requested he track a phone, he hadn’t thought twice before saying yes, but he was struggling like crazy.

He was sitting atop Biana’s bed, Biana beside him, Sophie in Fitz’s room and Tam and Keefe out getting supplies. That had got right down to plotting once everyone was in.

“You know, I never thought you’d make a decision without my prompting.” Biana said, throwing a grape in her mouth as she watched Dex work over his shoulder. “No, really, I’m proud of you.” She pushed, and Dex was unsure what point she was trying to make.

“Bia, you aren’t my guardian. I do make decisions without you, I just don’t let you see I do. You’re very controlling.” He said, only half paying attention to the conversation as he scanned through the mobile providers page once more.

“What? I am not.” She said, and Dex just shook his head, chuckling. “Okay… so maybe I just like planning every single move the two of us make.” She added, and then laughed herself.

“It’s not a bad thing.” Dex said, meaning it. He loved how Biana always had something planned for them, no matter what was happening. Then he didn’t actually have to ever worry about schedules. He scanned the page he was on once more, sighing at how long this hack was taking.

“Dex, I want to talk to you about something-”

“Yes!” Dex exclaimed, jumping up from the bed and scurrying to the other room. “I found it you guys!” He said, causing Fitz and Sophie to turn their heads from where they were planning. Biana approached and looked over his shoulder at his computer. “Now we can see all their messages!” Dex said, and Fitz and Sophie popped up to look at the computer as well.

“So, let’s find the next time they’re meeting and go spy on them.” Fitz said, and Sophie bobbed her head in agreement. Dex looked down at the computer, scrolling through the messages until he saw one about this Thursday.

“Something about meeting this Thursday at…” Dex continued scrolling, “the baseball filed, just out the back of the school!” Dex said, and Biana clapped her hands behind him.

“Perfect! You and I can go after cheer and your nerd meeting! It’ll be a Dex and Biana covert mission!” Biana said, and Dex looked at Sophie and Fitz, who both shrugged, agreeing to Biana’s idea.

“Alright cool. Well, today’s Tuesday so, looks like we have a day to decide just how we’re gonna get this done.” Dex said, and Biana grinned, grabbing his hand and pulling him back into her room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Longer chapter today, enjoy!   
> Also, please note: I'll only identify each term/phrase once, so if it's not in the Glossary, it's probably in another one!  
> Glossary:   
> -witever: whatever  
> -ye'll: you all


	9. Chapter 9

**_9_ **

**_Keefe_ **

Keefe really wasn’t sure how he felt about this newfound gang. Yes, of course, he was glad that there were now more heads, meaning more ideas, but Fitz’s little sister and her friends, really?

Now, he was walking through the dollar store with Tam seeing what supplies they could drum up.

“How do you feel about the new gang?” Tam asked in that same, deep dark voice that always made Keefe want him to keep talking. Tam wasn’t much of a talker though, and whenever he talked it was short and to the point.

“Honestly, I don’t know,” Keefe started, looking toward the dark-haired boy and they turned down another aisle, “They’re all so young and unexperienced. Except Sophie- she might actually be of some help.” Keefe said, meaning it, and Tam looked to him with an expression Keefe wished he could read.

It was then Keefe realized how close the two were standing, and he cleared his throat, turning towards the shelves in attempt to get Tam’s gaze off him. Tam was odd, as if he didn’t realize how unnecessarily intense he could make things just with the cock of his head or the intensity of his eyes.

“What are we looking for, anyways?” Keefe questioned, attempting to break the silence, and continuing to scan the shelves.

“Well, we need a big prank, something clever, at a big event. I was thinking the first homecoming game.” Tam said, and Keefe nodded, acknowledging the idea. They had discussed it a few times, and Tam and Keefe had both agreed on it, but Fitz didn’t want to cause anything bad on his sister, or his GPA.

“Alright, then lets just get the basics, yeah?” Keefe said, practically to himself, and he didn’t actually see if Tam agreed or not, he only heard Tam walking down towards another aisle. Keefe sighed, wondering if he and Tam could ever resolve the tension between each other.

**_Sophie_ **

Planning with Fitz was very different than Sophie had pictured. First off, Sophie was feeling like their cultural differences were affecting their conversations.

“So, wit are we attempting to plan, ‘ere?” Sophie asked, trying once more to converse with Fitz. Since that first art class, Sophie could admit that she was falling for Fitz, and quite rapidly.

“Well, we’re just trying to come up with different places and assortments of ways for the pranks. Big ones verses small ones.” Fitz said, and Sophie inched closer, hoping she could be subtle enough. “Dangerous ones verses not as climatic ones…” Fitz trailed off, and Sophie looked up into his face, close enough that she could make a move.

Fitz’s eyes flickered down to her lips and then back to the ground where all of their ideas were laid out. Sophie inhaled her disappointment, reminding herself she can deal with waiting.

“Aye, okay, so, wit about the… er… sports game? Back home we’d have a highland games competition at the start of the year, and every person in the whole area went.” Sophie threw out, not remember what the major sport in Seattle was at all.

“Yeah, we have a football game at the beginning of the year that we call “Homecoming” and everyone goes to that.” Fitz said, and Sophie nodded, implying that was what she meant. “Actually,” Fitz added, “You’ll probably be cheering at it.” Sophie laughed, already horrified that she would totally screw the cheering up.

“This is American Football, yeh?” Sophie said, and Fitz bobbed his head. “Ah saw the team on the telly. The, er, birds…?” Sophie questioned, cringing at how wrong she probably was.

“The Seahawks. And yes, it is American Football.” Fitz chuckled, nudging Sophie in the shoulder, causing her heartbeat to pick up. “Look at you, you’re catching on quick.” He said, and Sophie felt her cheeks redden, smiling at him.

“Ah guess. ‘Tis easy when ye’ve made such brilliant friends by yer second day.” She said, thinking back to her old friends verses her new ones and how different they were, when she was suddenly hit with an idea. “Hold on, what if we didn’t do the prank before, boot after? We could do it centralized at the Neverseen section,” Sophie said, sparks flying, as she pointed at the diagram Fitz drew, “And we could use this, and this, and probably this one, if we combined the latter two together!” Sophie exclaimed, and Fitz’s face blew up.

“Sophie Foster, you’re a bloody genius!” He said, grinning at her. Sophie laughed, and Fitz paused, realizing what he said, and then began laughing even harder. “Guess I’ve been hanging around you too much.” He supplemented, and grinned even wider. Sophie’s cheeks paled, as it dawned on her that in Fitz’s excitement his hand had landed on her knee and his face was inches away from hers.

“Alright, do you know how to mix these two things to make that?” Fitz questioned, pointing at the idea Sophie had just come up with, and then pulling out his phone to text Keefe and Tam about what other supplies they could get that would add to this plan.

Sophie quickly scribbled down the idea on the paper in front of them, attempting to explain it to her best ability. Fitz’s phone clicked with the sending of his message, and Fitz bent down, looking at what she was writing, turning his head, his hair brushing against her cheek. Sophie finished the last idea, heart racing, and met Fitz at eye level, twisting her thumbs awkwardly against one another.

They stared at each other for a few seconds, tension growing, before Fitz’s ringtone went off, causing both of them to jump apart a bit, disappointing Sophie. She practically growled when Fitz answered the call from Keefe, and crossed her arms across her chest, trying to helplessly convince herself that she wasn’t falling into the deep pit of longing for one Fitz Vacker.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Soph's Glossary:  
> -'ere: Here  
> -telly: television   
> -ye've: you have  
> -boot: but   
> Sorry this one took so long to put up, I've just had surgery but I'm back on writing now! Enjoy!


	10. Chapter 10

**10**

**_Dex_ **

Dex had no idea how he let Biana convince him to spy on Neverseen’s meeting. He hated confrontation, and he was the least stealthy person in the world. Plus, he usually did best holed up behind a computer screen or giving information for someone else to handle. 

After Biana had come out of cheer, she had raced to his AV meeting, dragging him out 20 minutes before it was over, repeating how they needed a head start to his and the other members frustration.  The two had then hid under the bleachers of the baseball field, in the back portion where the bushes still shaded the bleachers, so they couldn’t be seen, quietly waiting for the meeting to start. 

“We’ve been waiting for 15 minutes, Bia, and I’m starving, let’s just go.” Dex whispered, and Biana shushed him. They were pretty close, considering how tight the hiding space was under the bleachers in the specific spot they had chosen, and Biana kept moving, overly excited for a reason Dex could not place considering how against this kind of stuff she was until she joined. 

About 10 minutes passed full of constant shushing of Dex from Biana, until the same guys who had stopped Dex, Biana and Sophie before, all walked onto the field, right in front of the bleachers, and another approached from the woods, four in total. Biana leaned forward, Dex following, and they both listened as closely as they could without moving forward.

“Alright, listen up.” Dex made out, realizing that the two needed to get closer if they were really going to hear the plans of the enemy. “You all know that Fitz is screwing around with another child.” The same voice said, Dex turning to Biana who mouthed, Fintan, Leader. Dex added those words with Fintan in front of them to the notes he was keeping on his phone. 

“Yeah,” Another voice chimed up, prompting Biana to mouth, Ruy, earning a nod from Dex. “So, we need to learn why.” Ruy added, and Dex shivered, not liking the tone they were using, seeing Biana’s face mirroring his own emotions. 

“Exactly.” Fintan said, and Dex looked up from his recording to see Biana inching dangerously forward. “School, next week, at least. We need to know why he’s screwing with this girl, and we need to know how. Which means one thing, we must get to this girl, alone. We’ll do this by…” the voice drowned out, Dex not being able to make out the words from the level Fintan had lowered his voice to. 

Biana was even further forward now, probably in the line of sight of one of the boys. Dex grabbed her ankle, causing her to turn her head. He shook his head no, but Biana swatted his hand away and kept inching, giving him no choice but to follow. Finally, they reached a point where they could hear the voices half clearly, Dex sighing in relief of not being caught, until he heard the undeniable sound of a Biana sneeze. 

All four heads turned to the bleachers, Biana’s obvious body crouching beneath them. 

“What the hell?!” Fintan shouted, and Biana looked with wide-eyes towards Dex. Panicking, Dex grabbed Biana’s hand, pulling her out from under the bleachers and towards the woods straight behind them. “Get them!” Fintan yelled even louder, causing Dex and Biana to break into a sprint towards the woods, their interlocked hands swinging between them. 

“We go towards my place.” Dex breathed, and didn’t wait to see if Biana had heard before pulling them to a sharp right, veering away from the pounding feet behind them. Watching the road come into view, Dex pulled Biana left and into the neighborhood out of the woods. 

“You can run, but you won’t be free tomorrow!” Dex heard one of the boys’ yell, before he jumped the fence to his backyard, pulling Biana over it as well, both of them falling to their backs against the fence, breathing hard.

“Well, damn.” Biana exhaled, her hand still in Dex’s. Dex grinned at her, and she leaned over, putting her head on his shoulder. “All that for some pranks?” She furthered, and Dex laughed. 

“This stuff is way more nuts than we ever anticipated. No wonder Fitz was so closed off.”  Dex said, turning his head towards Biana and seeing her flushed face grinning. 

“Dex, remember how I mentioned I wanted to chat with you about something earlier?” Biana asked abruptly, spinning the topic in a direction Dex was not in the mood for. Nonetheless, he nodded, allowing her to continue. “Well, I know that you’re extremely awkward, and that I’m not, but I just, you know…” She trailed off, and Dex chuckled, hearing the shaky part in her voice. 

Without hesitating, he turned his head, gently pulling her towards him and placing a light kiss to her lips.

About ready to cringe at his own choice, he opened his eyes, only to be pulled into a deeper kiss by Biana, his fear melting away. 

She drew back after a few seconds, both their faces red and grinning. 

“Yes, exactly what I was trying to say.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah yeah, short chapter, haven't had much time to write with the holidays, sorry! Next chapter will be longer, promise. Enjoy the adorable Bex!


	11. Chapter 11

**11**

_**Biana** _

  
Biana and Dex rushed back to Biana’s house as soon as they were sure the other boys weren’t following them, hand in hand. 

Biana didn’t think she had stopped beaming since Dex had kissed her. As light and heat of the moment as it was, it had been something she had been wanting for a long time. She felt like a ray of light shining extremely brightly and no one could snuff out her shine. 

Er, at least, something along those lines. 

When they reached her house, the two rushed upstairs to where Fitz was chilling in his room with Keefe, Tam and Sophie both not present. 

“We have news.” Biana said by way of greeting, dragging Dex through the room and sitting them both down on Fitz’s bed.

“Alright, lay it on us.” Keefe said, and Dex pulled out his phone, releasing Biana’s hand. Fitz met Biana’s eyes with question in them, and Biana shook her head, not in the mood to explain her love life to her older brother. 

“So, as we were spying on the group, before we were almost caught, they mentioned how all three of them would be at school next week trying to get Sophie by herself.” Biana said, and Dex nodded eagerly in agreement. Fitz and Keefe shared an unreadable look before Keefe stood up, pulling his phone from his pocket while he headed out of the room. 

“Keefe is calling Tam, and I feel that maybe Sophie should come over and hear this.” Fitz said, Biana and Dex agreeing.   
Biana exhaled, drawing her phone out of her pocket and dialing Sophie’s number. 

“Halo? Whit like?” Sophie answered, and Biana put the phone on Fitz’s desk, pressing speaker. 

“Hey Soph, it’s Biana, Dex and Fitz. We need to talk to you. Could you come over or are you busy?” Biana asked. 

“Oh, halo Biana. And naw, Ah’m with me maw and daw and I’m not sure they’ll let me leave.” Sophie said, sounding regretful. “Can ye just talk to me now over mobile?” She inquired, and Biana looked to Fitz and Dex who shrugged in agreement. 

“Alright. So Dex and I were spying on Neverseen earlier today, and what we caught from them was that they were going to ‘get you alone’, whatever that meant.” Biana got out, waiting for a reply from Sophie. The phone line was quiet for a few seconds. 

“Aight.” Was what came from Sophie. “No problem. Ah’ll just destroy ‘em.” Biana snorted, and heard a laugh from Fitz and Dex. “Ah have to go, boot Ah promise to come over tomorrow after school.” Sophie said, just as the line went click. 

Biana exhaled with a puff of her lips, Dex’s hand floating just above her for a millisecond before resting on her hand in some attempt of comfort. Biana tilted her head towards his, offering a semi-comforting tight lipped smile, knowing Dex was trying to get her to not worry. 

Fitz interruped the moment with a clearing of his throat, making Biana turn and glare at him. 

“So, uh, you two, uh…?” Fitz attempted, making Biana laugh at his poor stab at being the domestic brother he was definitely not. 

“Yeah, big surprise right?” Dex joked, squeezing Biana’s hand, Fitz’s face looking even more painful. 

“F-ing finally.” Fitz muttered, and Biana slapped his arm, drawing a scowl from him. 

“Fitzroy Vacker, watch your language!” Biana scolded, and Dex grinned, looking happy with Biana’s shift from worry to jokes. “We’re gonna go study. You good?” Biana questioned, and Fitz offered a curt dip of his head, his hair falling into one of his eyes, an unreadable look on his face, as always. 

**_Fitz_ **

Fitz hated waiting at his lockers. People scampered by, offering him glares and stares. Some of the stares were in admiration, others were drenched in pure disgust. Many offered a suggestion, many also offered a suggestion that no one would take unless craving a fight. 

But, at the current moment, Fitz had decided maybe a fight wouldn’t be too bad. He was angry that he somehow allowed himself to drag the poor semi-innocent Sophie into his mischiefs, and that he had allowed her to crawl right under his skin. She was funny and confident and clever and very very nice on the eyes, and none of those helped him in trying to keep away from her.   
She had snuck her way into the spot of his deranged soul Fitz had closed off since Freshman year when he swore off emotions. 

No, he hadn’t always been like this. Maybe that was his reasoning for how keen he was to Sophie, he had been like her. He had clever and confident, but had constantly felt heart-break and rejection. No, the no feel way was much easier than facing reality.

Er-it had been. Until one high sock wearing, weird work speaking, clever confident Sophomore decided that he was worth being nice to. And that one Sophomore could just be the one stupid rock that finally cracks the unstable soul of one Fitz Vacker. 

And Fitz despised that, he wouldn’t allow it. 

“Halo!” A crisp accented voice chimed, shuddering Fitz out of his thoughts.   
Speak of the devil. 

“Whit?” Sophie asked, and Fitz almost clasped his hands over his mouth, hoping he didn’t speak the words aloud, until further realizing that Sophie was glancing past him towards the picture he had in his locker of his family. “And who are these lookers?” She joked, smiling at her own words. 

“Awh… well, that’s my mom, dad, Biana, and elder brother, Alvar.” Fitz said, spitting out the last word and pointing at the ten year old photo with each member of the family respectively. 

“Alvar…” Sophie drifted off, and Fitz braced himself. “That’s one of the Neverseen, naw?” She inquired softly, and Fitz bobbed his head quickly, not meeting her eyes. “Oh… Fitz…” She said, and he almost scoffed at how speechless she was. 

“It’s nothing. He’s a ‘senior’ technically, two years held back. He never comes to school, moved out a year and a half ago. Hates my guts.” Fitz coughed out, preparing for the next question. This wasn’t his first waltz in this area. 

“Erm… why?” Sophie asked tenderly. 

“I, um, ‘destroyed his life’…” Fitz meandered off, choking for no reason, shocked at how emotional he was getting after giving this speech. 

“What a boggin arse-hat.” Sophie declared , Fitz almost chuckling at the most likely derogatory slang she was throwing out with no restraints. 

“It’s alright Soph, I’m over it.” He stated, shoving down the emotions hitting their boiling point. “Come on, lets go to art.” He said, hooking his elbow through hers and leading her down towards the art room. “Don’t want any Neverseen thinking they could actually take on one Sophie Foster.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sophie's Slang Glossary:   
> -Whit like: What's up?  
> -maw and daw: mother and father   
> -mobile: phone  
> -boggin': crazy


	12. Chapter 12

**12**

_**Keefe** _

 

Keefe was, by far, not really feeling the major concern that the rest of the group was feeling over what Dex and Biana discovered. 

Yeah, yeah, poor Sophie, emotions and feelings, boohoo, not really Keefe’s area of expertise. 

But, it was a great chance to strike in action, and Keefe plus a semi-supportive Tam seemed to be the only two with their heads out of their backsides. With Neverseen wrongly deciding the tiny new girl was some sort of mastermind and large threat, it was a huge opportunity for Black Swan. It was time to create a plan. 

After Fitz had explained what exactly had happened over the phone, Keefe had spent the entire Friday of school coming up with different ways Sophie could be used as bait. The children, for some odd reason he just couldn’t place, didn’t like this idea, but Keefe and Tam felt it was wonderful. 

Being a Friday night, the whole Black Swan had decided to head down to Pike Place and get ice cream and maybe dinner at Beechers and the ice cream shops on the peer. 

Keefe decided to walk with Tam, since neither he nor Tam had a car and drove Fitz’s when Fitz wasn’t using it. 

The sun was out, the September weather mild. They were just rounding the corner of the three-story Target when Keefe couldn’t stand the silence any longer. 

“Okay, dude, what has been up with you?” Keefe asked finally, the tension he couldn’t quite place between the two of them knawing on him. 

“Um… have you met me?” Was what Tam made the poor decision to answer with, causing Keefe to throw his hands up in the air. “Okay fine.” Tam said, Keefe turning to him in surprise, Tam almost knocking him over when he abruptly stopped for a cross-walk crossing from third street to second, the Pike Place sign shining brightly. “There’s something between us.” Tam offered, and Keefe raised one brow, looking to Tam. 

“Well, I’d hope so, You, Me, and Wonderboy have kind of been best friends for a really long time.” Keefe supplied, and Tam sighed, beginning to walk when the cross-walk turned to the walk sign, making the legal four way cross. 

“No. Forget Fitz for a second. I’m talking about you and me.” Tam groaned, Keefe almost feeling bad. “You flirt at and with everything, no matter what it is, and I’m as straight as your crap parking jobs, everyone knows that.” Keefe snorted, of course him and Tam were both not straight, both of them had just had never bothered to come out. Everyone knew anyways. 

“Old news Tam.” Keefe said, turning down the semi-busy and tourist filled walk of Pike Place, many tourist giving the two boys the death “they’re too young for that” or “they’re too innocent” looks that made Keefe want to pound his head against a wall. 

“Good. Then we’re agreed.” Tam said, and Keefe knit his brows in confusion, looking away from the shops to meet Tam’s eyes. 

“Agreed on what?” Keefe asked, totally lost on the point his shadowy friend was trying to make. 

“Agreed on us.” Tam said, the two boys turning into Beechers and being immediately greeted by Biana, their conversation ending and leaving Keefe in a deep pit of endless confusion by the shaggy haired bangs boy. 

_**Sophie** _

“Okay, go over that absolutely ridiculous plan one more time so I can make sure I haven’t missed any idiocy.” Biana said, her voice dripping with sarcasm, Sophie literally ready to drown herself in the Puget Sound the crew was currently looking out on. 

“What?” Keefe said defensively, looking to Tam for backup. “It could work. She is perfect bait.” Keefe said, with the knowing look of ‘you know I’m right’ swagger. 

“Ah ‘ave to agree with Keefe on this one.” Sophie piped up, three matching disbelieved heads whipping towards her in surprise, two smug ones nodding. “Ah know it’s risky, boot whit is life for if not to be risky?” Sophie said, paraphrasing what Fitz had said to her in art today when she had said one of the ideas she was thinking of painting was too out there and Fitz had forced her to do that idea because it was worth the risk. 

“Sophie Foster, that is not what I meant and you know that!” Fitz exclaimed, obviously ticked about Sophie so easily throwing herself into the fire. Sophie heard Tam and Keefe snort in synchronization, earning a glare from Fitz, making Sophie unable to not giggle for a second before returning to the task at hand. 

“Fitz Vacker, ye definitely do naw control me!” Sophie threw right back, obtaining the Fitz glare from Tam and Keefe.

“Sophie, do you really think-” Biana started, ready to jump in and defend her brother’s points, making Sophie want to pull an eyelash out at the stress of arguing with her friends. 

“Biana, Dex, no.” Sophie said to them as well, holding up a single finger. “Back in Larkhall, every lad and lassie knew me. Bollocks, we all knew each other it was such a wee town. And Ah was known for my mischievous and odd ways. And Ah hated it, Ah didn’t like being odd.” She looked down at her hands, thinking of her few close friends. “This is the chance I need to accept myself. So, ye’ll are gonna let me do whit Keefe ‘ere suggests, because Ah know Ah sure as all things good want to feel the thrill again, and Ah always want to do the right thing.” Sophie finished, gulping down a breath, looking at the five identical shocked faces. Keefe was the first to recover. 

“Well I’ll be damned, Mysterious Miss F just gets more mysterious.” Keefe breathed in an awestruck way, Sophie not even bother to question what a ‘Mysterious Miss F’ was.   
Sophie looked to Fitz, Dex and Biana, who all looked as if maybe they were done with their contemplating. 

“Okay.” Dex said, holding his hands up in defeat. 

“Knock ‘em on their ass, sister.” Came from Biana. Sophie looked to Fitz with pleading eyes. 

“We play it safer than your original plans.” Fitz said to Keefe, who nodded. “Alright then. Looks like we’ve got ourselves some bait.” Fitz said, Sophie beaming with excitement. 

“Now, the question is, what exactly will we do to use me as bait?” Sophie questioned, making Dex spring into action and pull out his computer, already ready to take any notes needed. 

“They did say they’d all be at school, yes?” Tam spoke up, Biana dipping her head in a ‘yes.’ “Okay, then we offer Sophie up to them.” Tam thought out loud, receiving different looks of confusion.

“We make it look like she’s by herself. Fitz, don’t you have that art class with her?” Tam turned to Fitz whose face lit up in recognition, being the first one to get it. 

“Yes, yes! Sophie can walk by their hangout during art on ‘accident’, with me around the corner. They’ll jump on her then, Sophie will get all her answers, and I’ll rush in when it looks bad saying I have to help Soph get back to art. You’re a genius Tam!” Fitz exclaimed, and Sophie swore she saw the shadow of a smile on the boys face. 


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whelp the story is heating up even more. I'm actually surprising myself by how long this story will probably come out to be. With that, enjoy!

**13**

_**Dex** _

Dex could soundly say he absolutely hated this idea. It wasn’t just a hate, it was a fiery hatred that rang from the depths of Hades pit. 

Er, something along those lines. 

He had been directed to keep some kind of connection between everyone while the plan was unfolding, and he had done this by giving everyone a smaller walki talki type device with the help of a friend or two from the AV club, who Biana had charmed into helping. 

Sophie’s was in her pocket, Dex and Biana’s was with them in the AV club which they were operating out of, Fitz’s was in his pocket, and Tam and Keefe were sharing one from the outside of the building they were staking out. 

That had been the plan, even if Dex wasn’t a fan of it. Keefe and Tam stake out, Sohpie walks in, Fitz is across the corner, Sophie walks past them, scares them, gets information about their pranks from them, learns weaknesses, and then boom Fitz swoops in to save Sophie. If Fitz can’t get Sophie, that’s where Dex and Biana come in, setting off one of Tam and Keefe’s odd tiny prank device that will cause some kind of diversion. 

The morning played out smoothly, the whole gang scoping out at lunch to see that Neverseen wasn’t lying when Fintan said all of them would be at school this week.   
Dex was sitting at the table, the first to arrive, when Biana plopped down next to him, her face bright and full of excitement, though Dex couldn’t place why she was always like that. 

“What are you so excited about?” Dex questioned Biana, turning his head to meet her eyes. She grinned, placing a kiss to his cheek and pulling out her lunch, the flag thrown down saying that she wasn’t going to explain. Dex grinned, nonetheless, the happiest he’d been in a while, thanks to Biana and his newfound relationship, no matter the bumps the two faced. 

“That’s enough lovebirds, I’m about to vomit on you.” Keefe said, sitting down across from them with Tam in tow. It was odd, Dex thought, how Keefe and Tam always seemed to be as close as possible without even noticing it. “Where Mysterious Miss F?” Keefe asked, and Biana rolled her eyes. 

“Fitz is meeting her outside of her last class, the two of them should be here in a bit. And, maybe Sophie’d like you more if you stopped calling her that.” Biana added at the end, receiving a guffaw from Dex and a scowl from Keefe. 

“Dully noted.” Keefe sarcastically spat, looking about the lunchroom again. “Hey, guys.” Keefe said, jokes gone, his voice lower than before. “The Neverseen aren’t there anymore.” Keefe jerked his chin in the direction of where the group had been gathered moments before. 

“I don’t like this.” Biana said, pulling out her phone and dialing Fitz’s number. “Come on Fitz, come on.” She muttered, until the phone went to voicemail and she looked up, anguish creeping on her face. “No answer.” She said, stating what everyone had already seen. Just then, Keefe’s phone went off. 

“It’s Fitz.” Keefe said, pulling up the screen of the phone and answering, putting his phone to his ear. “Be there as soon as possible.” He said into the phone, a hint of worry entering his tone.

“You two, stay here. Keefe and I will go look.” Tam piped up, his voice quiet and low. “Keep your eyes, ears, and phones open.” He added, before the two were off, briskly navigating through the commons. 

Dex looked towards Biana, who’s face was lit up with worry. Dex took her hand in his, squeezing lightly, hoping that Fitz, Keefe and Tam were wise enough to make sure their friend was okay. 

_**Fitz** _

Fitz was pissed. Beyond angry, full on absolutely pissed, reading over the note in Sophie’s locker once more and growling at his phone, Keefe ringing out. 

He had went to grab Sophie from her classroom, looking around the classroom until seeing there was no Sophie. 

He had then rushed to her locker, hoping to find her there, only to come across the tiniest piece of white paper, wedged between the air-vents of the locker. He had pulled it out quickly, reading it over and over. 

_All plans, all supplies, all sports game blueprints and tools, 7pm tonight, baseball bleachers._   
_Don’t test us, she will get the opposite of good from that._   
_Come alone, Little Brother._

Fitz had dialed Keefe right after reading the note, acting on instinct, and that was where the pissed rage hit him. 

Luckily, Keefe picked up, saying he’d be over as soon as he could while Fitz randomly spewed SOS words, unable to form sentences.

Of course, this was his fault. No matter what Sophie had argued on, he was the culprit that got her into this, the culprit that agreed it was fine to flaunt her in Neverseen’s face, and now they’d done Keeper knows what with her. 

“Fitz?” Keefe yelled from across the hall, and Fitz raised his hand up, Tam spotting Fitz and pointing, the two boys rushing over to where Fitz leaned against Sophie’s locker in anguish. “What was the SOS for?” Keefe asked, and Fitz, unable to answer, handed him the note written in Alvar’s obvious scrawl. 

Tam exhaled, followed by an frustrated groan from Keefe, pulling out his phone. 

“Wait.” Tam said, taking the phone from Keefe, concern in his eyes, an emotion that was rarely seen on Tam. “I’ll tell them.” He said, placing a hand on Keefe’s shoulder in a kind, Fitz assumed, way. Keefe just swallowed and gave a curt nod in response. Tam took a few steps away, and Fitz turned his attention the Keefe, who obviously had something to say.

“I know what you’ll say,” Keefe started, and Fitz sighed, about ready to argue with Keefe, “But this wasn’t you. She made the decision. You couldn’t of stopped that fiesty Scot if you tried.” Keefe finished, and Fitz clenched his jaw closed, not knowing what to say in reply to Keefe’s random words of support. 

Emotion from Tam and moral support from Keefe, they must really be worried about him. On any other day, this might have even touched Fitz, but that was not today. 

Tam returned. “Biana and Dex are going straight to the AV club to dig up any computer or security footage they can, which means Dex will be illegally hacking into the schools system…” Tam drifted off, probably just now realizing what he had asked Dex and Biana to do. “I will go to the hideout. You two need to go find everything they asked for.” Tam stated, and Keefe looked taken aback, Fitz surprised at what Tam said as well.

“We’re giving them exactly what they want?” Fitz asked Tam, wondering who replaced their original Tam. 

“Oh hell no,” Tam laughed, shaking his head. “We’re just going to make it look it we are. I have a plan.” Tam finished, and Fitz looked to Keefe, who’s face was brimming with pride. Fitz nodded to his two best friends. 

“Lets go get our Scot back.”   
Tam left at that, and Fitz shut his locker, about to head out the door, when Keefe grabbed his arm. 

“What? We need to hurry.” 

“Short errand we have to run. Come with me, I’ll explain the whole plan to you.” Keefe said, and Fitz sighed reluctantly, allowing Keefe to pull him along while whispering the saving Sophie plan in his ear. 


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oof, it's shorter and I'm so sorry I haven't updated in seven days. I promise the next one will be longer. Enjoy this sassy Soph though. :) Warning: if you aren't updated past Neverseen you may be confused by Keefe (although when are we not hehe) Enjoy!

_**14** _

  
_**Sophie** _

  
“You comfortable Sophie?” Alvar’s bodiless voice inquired. “It is Sophie right?” Sophie shifted uncomfortably in the seat she was located on, the car jerking a turn somewhere. 

“Ah don mean to be rude, boot how could Ah possible be comfortable when Ah’ve got ye bangers forcing me in this car?” Sophie replying sweetly, allowing a bit of venom to drip into her voice. An unamed voice radiating from the drivers seat scoffed. 

“Little fiesty there, Miss Foster? I see why Fitzy-boy is into you.” Sophie’s cheeks reddened and she ducked her head, hoping Alvar didn’t see his comment get the rise out of her he was intending it to. “No, we’re not forcing you. We’re simply requesting your presence to get a rise and information out of those three deranged boys.” Alvar stated deeply, the car suddenly jerking to a stop. “Awh, we’ve arrived. If you would, Miss Foster.” Alvar said, suddenly emerging from the passengers seat and opening the door for her. “Now don’t try any funny business, we just want to have a little chat.” From the way he said it, Sophie felt like he wanted her to try some funny business. 

“I wouldn’t worry too much about funny business. Mysterious Miss F here wouldn’t ever want to bring bad to any of her friends.” Came a undoubtedly smooth voice, always with that charm. Sophie spun on her heel, looking away from Alvar only to see Keefe leaning up against the side of the only building in sight, the other Neverseen members snickering behind him. 

“Keefe?!” Sophie half gasped, half accused, her hands flying up to her mouth in disbelief. “Why, ye bloody idiot! Just whit do ye think ye’re doing?!” Sophie accused, her finger flying out at him in a scolding-mother kind of way. The other members of Neverseen laughed at Sophie’s wit, Alvar coming up beside her, slowly pushing her towards the building. “Ah can walk, ye know.” Sophie said, dusting Alvar’s arm off her, straightening her back, and walking right in front of where Keefe was leaning. “Tam will never forgive you.” She whispered, so softly that no one else could hear.   
Sophie wasn’t oblivious, though many of her friends thought her to be because of her new-ness and cultural difference. But she could still see when two people were a little closer than friends, and Keefe and Tam were the perfect example of that. It wasn’t hard to see longing on someone’s face when it was exactly mirrored on her own. 

Keefe swallowed, his smirk faltering for a split second, his eyes down-casting on Sophie’s shorter form. 

“Alright, enough threats. Come on.” Sophie rolled her eyes, barely thinking she ‘threatened’ Keefe, and followed the boy inside of the building, which was all out pretty disappointing. There were a few couches, a few tables, a fridge, some chairs, and a lot of miscellaneous papers and other gadgets. *A lot of gadgets, probably for testing different pranks, Sophie thought. 

Alvar, Ruy and Fintan all sat on the chairs, while Brandt and Keefe each took one of their own couch, leaving Sophie the option of standing, sitting on a couch next to Brandt, or sitting on a couch next to Keefe. Reluctantly, Sophie chose Keefe, sitting as far away as possible from him. The chairs of the three boys were close, and Brandt, on the opposite couch a bit farther away, had pulled out his computer anyways. 

Sophie scanned all three of the boys faces, landing on the fourth face of Keefe last, whose, as always, was unreadable. Sophie decided she wouldn’t speak first. 

“Sophie Foster.” Fintan started, and Sophie right of the bat categorized him as the unspoken leader, based on the fact he looked the oldest, was sitting between the two, and had given himself the right to speak first. “I don’t think you really knew what you were entering when you stepped into this world. Would you like an exclamation? You might learn to not hate our group as much because of it.” Fintan offered, and Sophie couldn’t lie, she was most definitely curious, she had wondered that for a while but had never gotten up the guts to ask Fitz. 

“Naw, the sheer fact that ye forced me into a car with ye withoot giving me any options explained enough.” Was instead what came out of Sophie’s mouth, hopefully as confident as she attempted it to sound. Keefe tensed besides her, and Alvar let off a slight grin. 

“What fine lies. Well, I’ll share nonetheless. We do have a bit of time to pass, now don’t we?” Fintan said, and Sophie almost groaned, but bit back her tongue. “Alvar and Brandt were both Sophomores, like yourself, the same year I was a Senior, for the third consecutive year. Because of a certain class, though I can’t remember what it was anymore, the three of us, plus the Freshman Ruy and the young but placed in the class because of his advanced skills, Keefe, all met up. We were all very close, and found that we all liked the same things.” Fintan paused, shifting his eyes off into nowhere, as if he was re-living the memory. “Pranks. Oh how we loved them. The five of us had a blast letting off as many as we could. Yes we got in trouble, and yes, our reputation’s were down, but none of that mattered.”

“Until a year or so later. I must have been on my fourth or fifth Senior year by then, doesn’t really matter. Keefe came on as a Freshman, and through that he meant two boys his age.” Fintan’s eyes darkened, the memory seeming to pain him. “Tam Song and Alvar’s kid brother, Fitz Vacker. Oh they were alright at first, pulling pranks with the gang, seeming to be fun with us. But, one day, they were careless, and exposed myself, Alvar, Ruy and Brandt in one of our biggest pranks that we named ‘The Great Gullon Incident’. All four of us were expelled for our horred behaviour because of how nast the prank was, but it was all that Fitz and Tam’s fault. Ever since then, we’ve been trying to get Keefe back, and fueling over whose pranks are better. Eventually, they let us back into school, all of us way older than any kid, so we never went, except for Ruy occasionally, if we needed a spy.” Fintan seemed to finish, Sophie sitting back, taking in the whole story. 

“So, anyways, now that you’ve heard that cry fest,” Alvar spoke up, Sophie looking up at him in question, “It’s time for you to tell us everything you can about your little hobo-fest’s next big prank.” Sophie knit her brows looking at Keefe. 

“Erm, why don ye just ask Keefe? He probably knows more than me.” Sophie said, wondering why they even needed her there if they had Keefe on their side, considering how Keefe was the best prankster out of the whole gang. 

“No, you don’t get it Foster. Fitz tells you more, he likes you. He doesn’t trust me, not fully.” Keefe said, as if it was the most obvious point ever. A glimmer caught in one of his eyes, and Sophie felt almost as if he was trying to body-language her something she just wasn’t catching. 

“Now then Miss Foster, if you will.” Fintan said, and Sophie swallowed turning her head to look back at him, wondering how the hell she would stall this group of crazies until the time when they would finally let her leave. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sophie's Slang:  
> -don: don't   
> -bangers: idiots (in this context lol)  
> -withoot: without


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a shorter chapter, but ahh, I couldn't stop myself and decided to release it a few days early. Enjoy!

**15**

  
_**Biana** _

  
“One more time, a bit slower, a little less flamingly idiotic sounding!” Biana yelled, not feeling sorry at all for the three boys on the other end of the screaming, Dex included. Tam and Fitz shared a look, and Biana crossed her arms across her chest, smug at how she could scare three boys who were all taller than her. 

“It was Keefe’s plan, and it was last minute. Can you really blame us?” Fitz tried, and Biana sighed, looking to Dex, who shrugged. 

“Though I agree with Biana that we would have liked to have been consulted before a decision was reached,” Dex said, wrapping a arm around Biana’s tense shoulders, “I feel that you may be right in this being one of the only ways we could get Sophie back and still keep our plan for the game, considering it was mostly Sophie’s idea.” Dex finished, and Biana exhaled, irritated that when Dex decided to voice his opinion for once, it was contradicting her.

“Alright.” Biana decided, Fitz looking at her with surprise. “Plan, one more time.” She said, uncrossing her arm and taking Dex’s hand that was around her far shoulder, squeezing his fingers. 

“Well, Sophie and Fitz came up with this elaborate blueprint prank for the game that would keep our reputation up, right? Well, when Fitz goes alone,” Tam paused at the growl Biana let out, “He’ll give a blueprint that Keefe and I quickly based off it, but with wrong locations. It’ll look like the actual blueprint, and, since Keefe ‘switched sides’,” Tam made air quotes at the last words, “he’ll confirm it, and they’ll believe him. Fitz will grab Sophie, leave some useless materials, and the two will dart out of there before they realize the stuff Fitz left was useless.” Tam completed, Biana rolling her eyes, her mouth open the second Tam’s was closed. 

“Seems solid, but two major things.” Biana said quickly, earning a groan from Fitz. 

“Yes Biana, please, humor us.” Fitz said sarcastically, and Biana smiled sarcastically at him, continuing to play with Dex’s fingers, Dex being quiet, probably thinking. 

“First off, how do we know Sophie’s scratch less?” Biana practically growled, angered of any bad thing that could of happened to her new best friend. 

“Keefe is over there, remember? He’s making sure of that.” Fitz re-assured, and Biana didn’t even nod, skipping over the poor attempt at assurance. 

“That was my other question. What will Keefe do when they find out the stuff left was second-rate? What hold does Keefe have against them?” Biana pushed, knowing Keefe was clever, never imagining he could be this clever. 

“With good luck, those boys still trust Keefe.” Tam said, his eyes hollowing back, as if looking into his past memories. “Keefe will come up with some excuse and slip out of there right after. He’s clever, I wouldn’t worry about him.” Tam soothed, Biana giving in. If Tam felt Keefe, was okay, then he was probably fine. 

“Alright boys. Let’s hope your so-called clever brains turn out to be clever enough to not turn this plan into a total mess.” Biana said, meeting all of the boy’s in the eyes. “If not, I know where every one of you lives.” 

_**Fitz**_

The fall air was cool and crisp against Fitz’s bare face, the freezing bench of the baseball bleachers he was sitting on traveling into his bones, his jacket stuck to his body due to the heavy Seattle rain that had been consistent through the night. 

It was 7:15, and still no Sophie. The useless supplies and blueprints sat snuggly in a tied garbage bag right next to Fitz. He shifted his foot against the wet metal, his eyes casting another scan across the field, still nothing. 

The area seemed deserted and almost eerie, and Fitz shivered, ready to get out of the creepy old field as soon as Sophie was safe. 

“Wow, have you been sitting here since seven? How pathetic.” Came Fintan’s taunting voice, and Fitz whipped his head up, spotting Fintan, Alvar, Keefe and Sophie all gathered on the opposite end of the bleachers. Fitz stayed where he was, acting as if this was no big deal. 

“You aren’t normally late, either. How pathetic.” Fitz shot back, lowering his voice as the group approached where he was located on the bleachers. Fitz popped up, grabbing the bag and hopping down until he was directly in front of Fintan, the bleachers behind him. 

“You can blame that on your highly cooperative friend.” Fintan said, nudging his head towards where Keefe was holding one hand around Sophie’s arm, Sophie looking as if she was about to bite both Fintan and Alvar’s heads off. 

“Can’t blame her.” Fitz said, checking to make sure Sophie looked fine once before directing all his attention to Fintan. “Everything you requested. Sophie, if you’d be too kind.” Fitz said, offering out the garbage bag of stuff, holding his other palm towards the air, as if asking Sophie to dance. 

“Hold on, Keefe.” Fintan said, holding one hand in the air, Fitz refusing to let his arm down. Alvar snatched the bag out of Fitz’s hand, both brothers growling at the other. “Does it check out?” Fintan asked, and Alvar nodded, not looking through the bag deeply, probably to avoid getting it drenched. The small wins, Fitz thought. “Alright, Keefe.” Fintan said, and Keefe stepped forward, before letting Sophie go, Sophie running to Fitz and grabbing the hand he had outstretched for her. 

He scanned her face at arms length before pulling her close. 

“Walk nonchalantly with me until we are out of view. Then, we sprint to my car, and get in. We’ll chat there.” Fitz whispered in Sophie’s ear, and she nodded, the two walking close as if they hadn’t given the Neverseen absolute nonsense as their plan. 

One the school building was in the vision, Fitz broke into a sprint, taking Sophie’s hand and pulling her towards his car with her. 

When they reached his car they both hopped in quickly, Fitz buckling up and then taking off as fast as he could, driving a bit too fast for the rain, Sophie sitting in the passengers seat, her blonde hair matted against her face. 


	16. Chapter 16

_**16** _

  
_**Keefe** _

  
Keefe looked down at the bag of absolute bologna, unsure about what he would do in this situation. He needed to get back to Tam, needed to make sure Sophie and Fitz were okay, even needed to see the baby face of nerdy-Dex. He knew where he belonged, and it was not with the assholes.

Standing in the pouring rain, his mind hanging out in the clouds, Keefe wondered how he even got to this moment. What made him even like this group in the first place? Had he been that lost, that broken by his terrible parents and insecurities. This group of idiots had the gall to take Sophie? Sophie?

“Hey, Keefe, are you listening?” Alvar asked, snapping in front of Keefe’s eyes, and Keefe blinked, pulling himself out of his mind. Alvar sighed, snatching the bag out of Keefe’s hands, Keefe looking down at his bare hands with internal panic.

“Come on, there’s no point standing around in the rain.” Fintan stated, and the group made their way towards the two cars that they brought to the field. Keefe stopped, and Alvar turned, raising an eyebrow at Keefe.

“I think I’ll just walk home. My dad needs to have a _college_ discussion with me.” Keefe said, almost frightened by how easily the lie slipped out of his lips, filling the air.

“Well, don’t envy you there.” Alvar said, then shrugged and jogged to catch up with Fintan, the group getting in the cars and leaving Keefe behind, standing in the pouring rain.

Keefe watched the cars disappear into the fog and then set off in the other direction, headed in the direction of where he knew Tam would be.

Since Keefe and Tam met, Keefe knew he had never shared a closer bond with anyone. It had shocked him. It wasn’t a bond like the one Keefe shared with Fitz, that was full of pure friendship. It was different than that, and at first, Keefe hadn’t been sure why.

But, as Keefe had gotten to know tam, he had figured out why, around the same time he assumed Tam had.

Keefe was a few blocks down in the direction of the park just a block down from Fitz’s house. Tam loved to loiter there, just because anywhere was better than his home, and Keefe related to that on an extremely high level.

The rain was beatting down even harder now, not like that was unusual for Seattle, but Keefe felt as if the weather was agreeing with him.

Going back, just for that little bit of time, with Neverseen, reminded Keefe of how his life was. Before Tam, before Fitz, before Biana, before Sophie. Hell, even before nerdy Dex. And Keefe knew now, he was in complete conclusion.

There was no way he would ever go back.

**_Sophie_ **

  
Sophie was drenched. She didn’t like it. It’s not like she wasn’t used to being drenched, it rained all the time in Larkhall. But, for some reason, this time her full of wetness felt symbolic. 

She heard a wheezing from beside her and looked up to Fitz, only to see that what she had assumed was wheezing was actually _laughter._

“Whit like??” Sophie asked, looking at Fitz in confusion, her mouth a bit agape. “Why the hell are ye laughing? Are ye plastered or something?” Sophie pushed, and Fitz laughed even harder, taking a right turn, though Sophie had no idea where they actually were. These streets were still utterly confusing, considering it was just a bunch of hills.

“I’m sorry,” Fitz finally got out, still laugh-wheezing, taking a left turn onto another street, probably going way above the speed limit. “I just can’t believe I faked my way through all of that.” Fitz gargled again, and Sophie let out a guffaw before giggle to herself. 

“Whit did ye even give Keefe?” Sophie questioned, her giggle growing into more of a cackle. 

“It was leftover plans and supplies from a prank we pulled a whole year ago.” Fitz said, taking I quick right before pulling into a driveway, Sophie looking forward to see it was actually his. He stopped the car, leaning back in his seat, looking over at Sophie, who copied his movements. 

“That’s bloody bonkers.” Sophie said, and Fitz leaned towards her, Sophie’s body automatically moving in a different direction. Sophie shifted a bit towards him as well, unbuckling her seatbelt, noticing that Fitz had never been wearing one. Their faces were quite close, and Sophie could feel his breath hot against her still-wet skin. 

“Well, I am the bonkers type.” Fitz breathed, his turqoiuse eyes focused intensly on her brown ones. Sophie breathed in, her nerves fluttering, her heart pounding around her chest, banging against the walls of her stomach. “I was so worried about you.” Fitz murmured, and Sophie inhaled once more, her eyes fluttering. _Fitz had been worried about her._

“Oh.” Sophie got out, sounding as lame as possible, cringing inwardly at herself, sure she almost ruined the move. A smirk grew on Fitz’s face, and he leaned a little further in, their eyes almost molding in a teal-brown splash.

“Soph…” Fitz breathed, and Sophie almost rolled her eyes, tired of the suspense. So, Sophie decided for him, not doubting herself for one second more and slowly bringing her face towards his, eliminating the space between them just as Fitz did the same, their lips crashing against each others. 

Sophie’s eyelids fluttered, and she closed them, her body definitely soaring, Fitz’s arm coming up over the gear section of the car to settle just underneath her shoulder, pulling her closer. Sophie gasped as Fitz’s tongue pushed against hers, begging softly for entry, Sophie granting it and pushing back at his tongue with hers, trying to gain some of the control back. Fitz brought his arm up, to around her neck, playing with the bottoms of her wet hair. 

They broke apart, both inhaling deeply. Sophie could feel her cheeks deepening to a strawberry red, and her smile grew when she saw how Fitz’s face was flushed as well. Fitz smirked softly at her, still playing with her hair. Sophie looked down at his other hand, realizing just how good at this kind of thing Fitz was. 

Suddenly, Fitz’s fingers became knotted through Sophie’s hair, and Sophie winced as Fitz pulled his hair out through the knot. They both lightly laughed, and Sophie lifted her face to look at Fitz. 

“Wanna go dry off?” Fitz asked softly, and Sophie nodded, still flushed by the moment that had just occurred, that she had been waiting for since the moment she set eyes on this wonderful, complex, boy. Sophie just nodded, giggling lightly, as her face lit up in a happiness she had never experienced before. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally, I know. :)


	17. Chapter 17

**17**

_**Dex** _

  
The bell would never ring, Dex was sure of it. He tapped his pencil against his desk in rhythm to a song stuck in his head, his teacher droning on about some random unnecessary chemical combinations to make different potions and medicine, which Dex had no interest in.

He had been fine earlier in the class, tapping his fingers away on his laptop as he half-paid attention, half worked on the online 3D drawing he had been making up the past two days of one of the objects the group would have to build for their Homecoming game prank.

But, as annoying as school was, his teacher had taken his laptop away, saying it was distracting his learning or something lame like that. So, he couldn’t search up certain ideas for the team or draw the online designs he had been asked to make up and it was driving him to wits end. And. On top of that, Biana was talking and seemingly flirting with a group of guys sitting towards the front of the class with her.

Dex really didn’t want to claim that he was jealous, because it was only a half truth. He knew Biana liked him, that much was obvious. But it was really only during lunch and after school that she talked and flirted with him. He got it, she was way more social than he was, but he still felt as if maybe he wasn’t reaching the standards that she had secretly held for him.

After decades, the bell finally rang, and Dex bolted up, snatching his computer from the teacher’s desk and heading out of the room towards his locker. He heard Biana laugh and charged on, ignoring the pain he felt shoot through his stomach. It was fine.

When he made it to his locker he started shoving his books in, grabbing the ones he needed for his next classes, deciding that he would go chat with Sophie. She always cheered him up.

He turned to head in the direction of Sophie’s locker when he saw Biana approaching his, three guys all flagging her side. Dex saw her laugh at something one of them said, that flirty almost mischevious smile Dex never earned from her light up her face. Dex cocked his head, imagining the heart-eyed emoji on all of their faces, since that was practically what they all looked like, though Biana didn’t seem to notice.

Dex rolled his eyes and approached the group, Biana giving him a less bright smile, “I’m off to AV club during activity period. Meet you there?” Dex half-asked, and was about to continue walking when Biana randomly spoke up.

“I was actually gonna go hang with Jesper and his group for a little while. Hope you don’t mind. Work your nerdy little heart off!” Biana said, probably meaning it in a half-encouraging way, but receiving a laugh from the other guys around her nonetheless. The pain in Dex’s chest increased. It was fine.

“Alright well, work your social little heart off, then,” Dex said to Biana, not meaning for it to come out as acid-like as it had. He spun on his heel and walked off, suddenly feeling as overdramatic as Biana.

When he reached Sophie’s locker, he found her with Fitz, the two standing quite close to each other, their hands interlocked. Dex sighed internally. Not because of the two being a couple, he was glad they had finally just given in to their feelings, but to the fact that Biana never wanted to hold hands or stand close to him in school. She would always say it was too much PDA or some poor excuse like that.

Sophie was the first to notice Dex, tearing her eyes away from Fitz’s, “Halo Dex. Ye okay?” She asked. Dex almost smiled. Sophie was really a wonderful friend. She had noticed he felt bad without him having to even say anything to her. “Ye’re not, are yeh? Wanna go chat aboot it?” Dex nodded, and Sophie kissed Fitz’s cheek in goodbye, the pain in Dex’s chest tightening.

 _When was the last time Biana had kissed his cheek in public?_ It was fine.

After Sophie and Dex had reached the AV room, seeing as it was empty, Sophie sat Dex down, and he just stared at her, not knowing where to begin. He could feel Sophie studying him in that odd way she did, as if she could see the pain coursing through his nerdy blood.

“It’s Biana, isn’t it?” Sophie inquired, and Dex nodded.

“How could you tell?” Dex asked. Was he really that easy to read?

“Naw need to worry. Ah’m just well-thought out in mah noggin. Plus, Ah know that exact look. Ah experienced it before Fitz and Ah just gave in,” Sophie stated. She put her hand on Dex’s shoulder, which actually gave Dex the comfort she was attempting at. “Whit happened?”

“It was a bunch of little things, you know,” Dex observed, his words just falling out of his mouth, as if the filter in his brain had been removed. “I’m not cool enough, I’m so nerdy, I couldn’t be social, I’m cute in my own way, that’s not really my crowd, I should just stay in my AV hole…” Dex drifted off, and Sophie bobbed her head, her eyes bright in the way Dex had quickly figured out was her thinking.

“Aye. She wants to be your burd in her heart, but she doesn’t want the world to know,” Sophie stated, and Dex realized Sophie had just summed up the whole situation in one sentence. “Ye know, it seems quite bonkers, boot it is quite usual,” Sophie continued, and her eyes drifted around the room, Dex following where she was looking, “Ah’m not defending her, boot Ah do think this is something ye need to chat with her aboot. She probably doesn’t even know, girls do quite weird things to keep up their reputations and such.” Sophie finished, and Dex knew she was right, but it still hurt that him and Biana would have to have a conversation.

_Maybe they weren’t meant for each other._

Dex thought about what he could say to Biana, and how the conversation would go down. He knew in his heart that he wanted to have a regular relationship with Biana, but he didn’t know if that was even what she wanted.

Maybe she would agree that this wasn’t working out and decide to dump him. Maybe they just weren’t meant for each other. Maybe Dex was just destined to be constantly pining for something more with her.

It was fine. 

_**Biana** _

Biana hummed to herself, her earbuds maybe a tad too loud and her soul filled. She was in a good mood, and feeling happy.

_Then why did the air feel off? Why did she feel as if something was wrong?_

She turned, saying goodbye to some of her cheer friends and ending up alone, walking towards an exit that was on the other side of the hall. She continued to hum to herself, excited to finally see Dex, but more than that excited to see what he had come up with.

The big homecoming day was this Friday, and the final online plans Dex and Tam had been working on were supposed to be done by the meeting at her house tonight, considering they had only four days to finish up equipment.

Biana reached the end of the hall, pushing the doors open and spotting Fitz’s car parked close to the exit. She made her way over, pulling out an earphone and switching off the screen of her phone, about to say hi when she looked into the car to see Sophie sitting in the front seat next to Fitz, the two shoving their tongues down each others throats.

Biana screeched, covering her eyes, her retinas searing in pain. “Tell me I did not just see that!” Biana screamed and peaked through her eyes to see Sophie with cheeks like cherries, and Fitz with a satisfied little look on his face. _That douche_. Biana threw the backdoor open, pulling herself inside the car, slamming to door shut.

“Biana, Ah’m so sorry, Ah was gonna tell ye, but Ah didn’t want to be awkward and I know catching me snogging him isn’t the best way to learn boot-” Biana held up a hand, and Sophie closed her mouth, her eyes wide. Biana pulled herself forward between the two front seats, turning her head to look at her stupid older brother.

“Break her heart and I’ll break your neck,” Biana threatened, Fitz nodding in response, a snort coming from Sophie, prompting Biana to turn her head to Sophie. “Congrats babe, now we’ve both got fellas wrapped around our fingers,” Biana smiled to Sophie, who raised her brows and stayed silent. With that, Biana leaned back in the seat, a smug smile creeping onto her face. “Well come on Fitz, today is kind of important, let’s get a move on.” 


	18. Chapter 18

**18**

**_Fitz_ **

“Wait, let me get something straight-” Tam said, getting cut off by a snort from Biana, who cringed apologetically after earning a glare from Tam, Fitz almost letting out a laugh at Biana’s actions, “That little 3D printed device is going to somehow manage to trigger that bigger device? Are you sure the physics of that plan work out?” Tam asked, and Dex raised his hand to his chest, feinting fake offendedness.

“There are absolutely no mathematical flaws in that plan, whatsoever. The only thing that would stop the reaction from triggering would be an outside force, like Newton’s Laws,” Dex said, and Sophie nodded in agreement, Fitz and the other three kids staring at Dex and Sophie in utter confusion.

‘What’s a Newton, and who gave him permission to make his own laws?” Keefe asked, and Sophie guffawed, sharing a look with Dex. “Oh come on, not all of us are straight up geniuses.” Keefe added, and Biana snorted again, earning a glare from both Keefe and Tam this time. Fitz fought the urge to roll his eyes and looked to his side at Sophie who had her head rested on his shoulder. She seemed tired, and she kept looking at Dex and Biana. Moments like these made Fitz wish he was better at reading people’s emotions.

“Okay, we’re getting besides the point,” Fitz said, wrapping his arm around Sophie’s shoulder and rubbing it with his thumb and forefinger. “Now that Dex has made it abundantly clear that his little devices will work and that he’s way smarter than all of us, can we get back on track? We only have four days.” Fitz pointed out, and Sophie agreed into his chest. Fitz pulled his arm around her tighter, his body begging for more Sophie.

“Right,” Tam said. He then looked down to where the plans were sprawled about the floor of Fitz’s bedroom, pointing to a spot on the elaborate diagram Fitz and Sophie had drawn together instead of working on their actual projects in art. “So this tech that Dex has made up needs to be placed exactly in this spot at- what time was it again Biana?” Tam asked, turning his head to Fitz’s little sister her shifted.

“Well, in order to avoid drenching all the cheerleaders, most importantly Soph and I, it’s got to be activated at exactly 7:08. No more no less,” Biana said. Dex nodded in agreement, and Fitz didn’t miss the quick glances that both Biana and Dex shot in each others directions. Fitz rubbed Sophie’s shoulder once more, pleased that he didn’t have to deal with that much tension between him and his own girl.

“It’ll give the cheerleaders- er, Soph and Bia- until 7:15 to get out of the way,” Dex said, grabbing his laptop from beside him and opening it, his eyes lighting up. “That is, unless you two would prefer to be Bia and Soph slushie flavours.”

Sophie snorted, and Fitz admired how even her snorts sounded beautiful. “Ah think Ah’d make a scrumptious slushie.” Sophie commented, and the whole group shared a laugh, the tension easing. Only Sophie. Fitz opened his mouth, about to make a gutteral remark, closing it when he saw Biana’s warning glare.

“On a more serious note,” Keefe jumped in, Fitz eyeing his hand atop Tam’s, “This is serious, even for us. If the school finds a way to trace this back to us, there’s a chance us three won’t graduate this year,” he said more seriously, and Tam looked at him with a brow raised. “Well, I guess Tam wasn’t gonna graduate anyways, but that wasn’t the point.”

“No worries,” Dex said, and Fitz noticed how he seemed more confident than usual. “My tech is untraceable. I’m not the head of the AV club for my good looks.”

“Nope, that’s just a bonus,” Biana said, and Dex flipped his head to meet her eyes, almost looking surprised. This time Fitz didn’t have to roll his eyes, Keefe had him covered. “Anywho, will someone please go over the plan in full once more? I was distracted by how disgusting Sophitz’s PDA was.”

Sophie stuck her tongue out at Biana, who returned the favour, and Fitz answered with a more dramatic gesture, relying heavily on his middle finger.

“The game starts at 7:30, and we plan to strike at 7:15. Around this time, according to Keefe’s info, Neverseen should be planning to do their half-assed prank around the same time as us. Therefore, suspicions become placed on them when it looks like all one prank,” Fitz said, relaying all those planning days back in his head.

“Right, because we’ll all be somewhere doing something,” Tam jumped in, “Biana and Sophie, cheer, check. Fitz and Dex, in the stands being supportive boyfriends, check. Me and Keefe in line for food headed for the stands, check. If we’re not near the device, how could we possibly activate it?” Tam’s voice was dark, and Fitz noted how Tam almost sounded creepy.

“After cheer’s routine, the device will be planted by a certain clutzy cheerleader who accidentally dropped her bow. Right at 7:15, the device will be activated by an innocent computer nerd who is always on his silly laptop. Slushie goop will rain down on the field from the surrounding lights and sprinklers. At least two of us will get hit, and why would we make a hit on ourselves, that would just be suicide,” Dex declared and Sophie clapped, Fitz smiling. It seemed ingenius, unbreakable.

“Wait, just one problem.”

“Wouldn’t be you if there wasn’t a problem Biana,” Keefe jabbed and Biana ignored him.

“Which two of us will get drenched?” Biana asked, and Dex put his finger on his nose, Biana copying the act.

“Oh stop,” Tam said, Biana and Dex both lowering their fingers bashfully, “Keefe and I have already volunteered,” Tam said, Biana looking at the two of them in surprise.

“We are the most suspicious out of the six of us. If we get hit, like Dex said, dumb suicide,” Keefe pointed out. Fitz looked down at the plans as Biana continued to share potential problems.

Fitz zoned out, really thinking about what they were about to do. He wasn’t questioning, no, he would never back out, but Black Swan had never attempted anything this huge or well planned out before.

Since the first day, Fitz had been different. He had entered senior year of high school angry, salty and devilish. He had been ready to wreak havock on his grades, family and relationships. He had been fully prepared to not call this year his final year. But, for some reason, he felt changed.

He had been depressed, to put it without and sugar. He was in a place where nothing had been going in any direction. He had gone by, day by day, wishing Alvar still loved him, wishing Biana would stop being so goddamned perfect, wishing he had something real in his life. Anything, real. Anything that felt the way it had when he had been young, a dreamer.

And then Sophie had waltzed in, dragging Dex and Biana with her. Fitz had never expected to have a real relationship with Biana. He had never realised he could potentially have someone real like Sophie in his life.

And this was it. A rejected son who was in his millionth senior year, a neglected blonde who never thought he’d get with the boy he liked, an AV nerd who just wanted to prove his worth, a popular cheerleader who had found more than the shallow life, a could have been perfect son who just wanted something real, and a Scot who was fresh off the boat, ready to take the world head on.

This was them. And Fitz was proud. He was proud that he could call this group his friends. He was proud that he could wrap his arm around Sophie and pull her close. He was proud that him and his two washed up best friends had a chance at graduating. He was proud he had developed a relationship with his litter sister and her nerd boyfriend. He was proud of what they had become, and he knew in his heart that this was the real he had been looking for his life. He knew that this prank would be a success.

“Hey, wonderboy, what’s that contemplative look for?” Keefe teased, and Fitz blinked, looking up at Keefe, then looking around at the group, his eyes landing last at Sophie, who’s head was still rested on his shoulder, those big beautiful brown eyes full of knowing.

“I’m just ready to show off what we got,” Fitz said, his lips forming a smirk, his chest puffing with confidence. “Ready to prove just who owns this town when it comes to pranks.” 


	19. Chapter 19

**19**

_**Keefe** _

  
Keefe shivered, pulling his sweatshirt sleeves further over his bare palms. It was a cold fall Seattle night, the sky dark, the clouds threatening. No rain was falling, yet, at least, and Keefe sent up a prayer to whatever gods were left that the rain would wait until after 7:15 to come attacking down on the city.

Tam approached him, and Keefe took a deep breath, attempting to hide his shiver and disguise the scared look on his face. Tam raised a brow, handing Keefe a regular plastic bottle, Keefe unscrewing the lid quickly and taking a drink, only to find that it definitely was washed down with vodka. Giving Tam a soft smirk, Keefe nodded his head towards the bench next to the food stand, Tam nodding, the two sitting next to each other on the cold bench, getting a decent view of the whole field.

“Biana looks like she’s into her sixth cup of morning-sickness coffee,” Tam commented, and Keefe turned his head to see Biana and Sophie standing with the other cheerleaders, Biana bouncing around like a puppy who just heard the word ‘treat!’ Keefe almost smiled at Sophie, standing next to Biana, not even attempting to calm Biana down, looking as calm as ever.

“Meanwhile, Sophie looks like this is the most boring time of her life. Could that girl be anymore mysterious?” Keefe shook his head and Tam let out a quick laugh, a freezing gush of wind hitting them, blowing Keefe’s bouncy blonde hair into his eyes, to his irritation.

“Hey, Keefe?” Keefe turned his head to meet Tam’s deep eyes, his gaze looking contemplative. Keefe raised his brows, silently telling Tam to continue, intrigued into just what exactly Tam was going to share. “I know we haven’t really had a chance to talk about, well… _us_ … I guess, lately, but uh…” Tam drifted off, and Keefe couldn’t help the surprise that he felt and most likely showed on his face. Tam was never this forward about the _unspoken_ thing between the two of them.

Keefe breathed in, his confidence burning, “Hey tam?” He interrupted, Tam’s eyes flashing back up to meet his, “when we’re done with this, would you like to go out?” Keefe asked, and Tam’s eyes lit up. Keefe smiled. “Of course, not in the platonic way we normally go out, but in the, you know… relationship way?” Keefe added, and Tam grinned, a genuine grin Keefe hadn’t seen in quite a long time.

“Yeah, I think I could do that,” Tam said, his eyes shining through his bangs, his usually deep and monotone voice a bit lighter. Keefe looked down at their laps, just one more risky idea skewering his mind. Quickly, before he could change his mind, he grabbed Tam’s hand off of his knee and intertwined it with his own hand, looking up and Tam and grinning.

Tam’s phone suddenly buzzed, and Tam took his other hand out of his pocket, switching on his phone. Keefe glanced over, seeing that Tam’s alarm for 7:00 was flashing and Keefe looked up to Tam, who did the same, their eyes meeting in anticipation.

“Well, better get to it,” Keefe said, standing, pulling Tam along with him. The two walked over to the food line, the game announcers speaking on cue, their hands intertwined still, neither letting go.

_**Sophie** _

  
“I’m dead, I’m dead, I’m dead, I am dead fracking meat and it’s all my washed up brother and nerd AV boyfriend’s faults,” Sophie sighed exasperatedly as Biana continued her chant, half-bouncing half-pacing. She had pulled Biana away from the other cheerleaders, saying that she just needed to give Biana a pep talk because of Biana’s pre-game nerves, but Sophie was about ready to just let Biana spoil their plans to the cheer team if it meant shutting her up.

“Ye’re pure mental, yeh,” Sophie said for the hundredth time, Biana turning to face her. “Ye’re not gonna be dead,” Sophie tried, and Biana turned, and continued pacing, dismissing Sophie’s sad attempt at cheering her up. “Bia, come on. Yer burd has everything covered. Ah know we’ll be fine. Look, Ah’m naw worried.”

Biana turned once more, sitting next to where Sophie had sat herself on the bleachers, a few paces away from the other cheerleaders. “I need to calm down, don’t I?” Biana asked, and Sophie suppressed her guffaw, wrapping her arm around Biana’s shoulders instead.

“When Ah get as freaked as that, ye have full credit to go bonkers, aye?” Sophie said, and Biana nodded, leaning her head into the crook between Sophie’s shoulder and head. Sophie patted Biana’s shoulder, checking the big clock once more, it reading 7:02, before scanning the scene to make sure everyone was in place.

She spotted Fitz and Dex in the bleachers. Fitz’s teal eyes met hers as if they could feel her watching them. His gaze was intense, and Sophie shivered, but not from the cold. She smiled and he returned it with his perfect movie star smile, making Sophie feel like combusting. She looked to Dex next to Fitz, who raised his head from his laptop after Fitz nudged him.

Dex’s eyes seemed weary, but not exactly nervous. He looked to Biana, and Sophie shook her head, hoping to look re-assuring. Biana was quiet, her eyes closed, her head still on Sophie’s shoulder. Dex shrugged back, before looking at his computer once more.

Sophie turned her gaze to the food stands, spotting Keefe and Tam’s backs to the field, their hands interlocked. Sophie didn’t try to hide grin, though it looked as if she was grinning at nothing.

She knew that there were some Neverseen around, though they were not doing a good job of hiding themselves considering how Sophie could see how Fintan, Alvar and Ruy were all relatively close to the field. She almost made eye-contact with Fintan, and noticed how Alvar seemed to be staring lividly at Fitz, who was definitely pretending to not see his brother glaring at him.

7:04. Sophie gulped, and Biana raised her head, opening her eyes. Sophie looked to her, Biana’s teal eyes almost identical to her brothers, that Vacker determination shining in them.

“Bia?” Sophie asked suddenly, her mind realising something a bit too late.

“Hmm?”

“What if Ah screw up? Or fall over? Or forget?” Sophie asked quickly, and Biana laughed lightly. 7:05.

“Pre-show jitters. I had those when I first started performing,” Biana said, and Sophie swallowed once more. “You won’t, trust me. Muscle memory kicks in. Besides, you, Sophie Foster, are a total badass.”

Sophie grinned, her random nerves settling.

“Bia?”

“Hmm?”

“Ah’m ready.”

Biana grinned back at Sophie and 7:07 came, the captain signaling that it was time for the cheerleaders to take their positions. Biana embraced Sophie quickly before heading to her position, Sophie doing the same.

Sophie breathed in, her nerves sending her eyes up to Fitz, seeking his support. His face was encouraging, his smile suggestive. Sophie smiled to herself. What was a little cheer routine anyways?

The huge lights that lit up the field became aglaze, just as the first beat of music struck, Sophie beginning her routine. Biana’s words from when they were practicing played throughout her head, the steps practically muscle memory.

Halfway through the dance, at what Sophie was hoping was 7:08, while she was lifting Biana, Biana brushed her hand down, _accidentally_ causing Sophie’s bow to fall out of her hair, not noticeable to anyone in the crowd, a little mishap. Sophie perked up, finishing the routine off strong, everything going according to plan so far.

The final blare of music blasted and slowly decrescendoed, Sophie stepping back into the left line right at the end in her spot, with the other half of the girls across from her, waving her pom poms up and cheering as all the football players ran between the tunnel created by the cheerleaders. Finally having a second of rest, Sophie looked up to the big clock. 7:11.

Abruptly, she felt someone push up next to her and whipped her head to see Alvar standing next to her, hidden by the shadow cascading from the bleachers above them and from the long line of players and cheerleaders as well.

“Nice performance,  _Soph._ I can see why my brother wanted to hit you,” Alvar said casually, and Sophie almost scoffed, her eyes darting to see the clock tick. 7:12. From the corner of her eye, she spotted Biana making her way to the out-of-range area they had decided on. Sophie’s heart thumped. If she didn’t make it out of the area in time, she would be a goner.

“Are ye positively daft o something?” Sophie accused, and Alvar let out a smooth chuckle, his hands in his jacket pockets. Sophie swallowed. She couldn’t dart out of place, that would give them out and Alvar would totally rat them out. Freaking out, she glanced around the field, but Biana was gone and Tam and Keefe must’ve moved to position.

“So, where’s the Fitz-y-boy anyways?” Alvar shifted the subject quickly, not trying to be subtle about why he was really approaching Sophie at all. “Thought your dumb crew would be up to something lame tonight.”

Sophie adjusted her palms in her wrists and watched the other cheerleaders walk back to their positions, quickly making the decision to stay in the shadows with Alvar, taking a few steps under the bleachers. She inwardly sighed, knowing Fitz would _not_ be happy and she’d be pulling slushie out of her hair for the next three months.

“Funny, Ah was just thinking the same thing about ye and yer group of bangers,” Sophie jabbed back, taking a few more tiny steps under the bleachers, Alvar not seeming to notice. “Well, Ah best be going now, gotta get to me group and all. Boot, ‘twas nice chatting with ye sorry arse,” Sophie said, glancing at the clock that read 7:13 and would soon read a minute higher.

“Same here,” Alvar said smoothly, putting his hand on Sophie’s shoulder in a way that made Sophie’s hairs stand up on the back of her neck. Shaking his hand off, Sophie walked out from the shade of the bleachers and made her way behind them, half-running half-fastwalking to rendezvous spot.

Not glancing back, Sophie crossed her heart, hoping that she would be blessed with only a little slush and a way to avoid talking to her boyfriend about her odd chat with his older brother.


End file.
